Collision
by sethsduck17
Summary: Flash to when Amy's child is a teenager and has no idea that Ben adopted her all those years ago. What happens when Ricky sees her? Will she turn to her biological dad or the one she's known her whole life? Story inside, better than summary, read & review
1. Chapter 1

Prologue

"He has a right to know Amy."

"No. He doesn't. He never wanted any part of this baby and he never will. All he did was put me in this situation; as far as everything else is concerned, it's your baby."

He sighed and ran a hand through his wavy hair. "Are you sure about that?"

She nodded without saying anything. The only thing that Ricky contributed to this baby was his sperm, that was it. And as far as Amy Jerguns was concerned, it would continue to be it. He was never there for her during the pregnancy, never publicly talked to her about the baby, nothing. The only time he talked to her was when it was convenient for him; meaning that no one else was around to see him do it. Ben on the other hand, as soon as he found that was pregnant, was willing to take on the child as his, even though it wasn't. That was a real man and as far as Amy was concerned, the only man that would be a father to her child.

"It's been three months already Aim," he said softly.

"And it's going to be three more. Followed by forever. Just drop it Ben, he's never going to see her. As far as me and Janie are concerned, you are her father ok?"

As much as his heart swelled to hear her say that, it sunk just a little bit as well. He knew the right thing to do would be to tell Ricky about his daughter, to let him know that everything is ok. Then again though, Ben has been around this entire time and not once did Ricky ask about Amy or how the baby was doing and he knew that Amy wasn't talking to him. He already told both families that he would adopt the child to make it his because that's what Amy wanted. What Amy and him both wanted.

"When are you coming home?"

She smiled on the other end of the phone. "Soon."

"Good, it's been way too long since I've seen you."

"Are you sure you're ready for this?"

"Are you?"

"No," she said quietly.

"Me either," he admitted. "But I know that we can do it. Our parents will help us and I'm sure we'll figure things out. I still can't believe that they're letting us get married," he said softly.

"In three years Ben," she laughed.

That was the agreement; in three years when they were both eighteen, if they still wanted to marry each other then their parents would let them. For now however, they were just to date each other and not bring up the marriage thing to either families. Ben had felt like a wave of relief had washed over him when their parents agreed to that, he could finally be with the woman he loved more than anything in the world. Amy also felt a wave of relief wash over her, but for a different reason. She loved her boyfriend, no question, but she agreed with her parents in saying that they were fifteen and way too young to even think about marriage. She loved Ben with all her heart, even more so now that she saw what he was willing, and going, to do for her and Janie, but she wasn't ready for marriage. She wasn't even ready for her daughter!

"I have to go," she suddenly as she heard shoes coming down the hallway. Her grandmother enforced a strict curfew on her and being on the phone at eleven o'clock at night was definitely breaking that curfew.

"I love you."

She smiled. "I love you too Ben."

* * *

"Mommy?"

Amy turned around to see her daughter standing behind her with her hands behind her back and big smile on her face.

"You better put back whatever you have in your hands Janie," she warned as the girls face dropped.

"But-"

"No. It's almost dinner," she said firmly.

"But I'm hungry now!" she whined.

She sighed as she looked at the three year old. "What do you have?"

Janie pulled out a bag of fruit snacks from behind her back and Amy rolled her eyes. "Fine Janie. You can have them."

"Thank you!!" she said happily as she ran back into the other room.

"When's Daddy coming home?" she called.

"When he's done with school," Amy replied.

"When is that?"

"When you stop asking questions," Amy shot back.

"Huh-uh."

"Then why are you asking?" Amy smiled.

"Because I miss him."

It had been three years since Amy had her daughter and two months until her and Ben were married. Ben, of course, knew all along that they would be getting married. Amy, hoped for it all along but was never quite sure; to be dating at fifteen and make it for three years was quite an accomplishment. Finishing high school proved to be a difficult task but luckily Amy's mother helped her out whenever she could and she also paid for Janie's daycare. In order to graduate with her friends, a subject that was non negotiable with her, Amy started summer school after her daughter was born and sure enough, she was able to walk. As soon as high school was over with, Ben wanted to move in together right away but Amy wanted to wait just a little bit more. She wasn't ready to give up the comfort and security of having her mother always be there, not to mention Ashley might threaten to kill her all over again. They agreed to wait until they were married to move in and for now Ben just came over every day. Of course college proved to be difficult as well. For now Ben was going full time at the local community college and next semester Amy would enroll as well at nights that way she could be with Janie during the day a little bit and also find a job. Everywhere she went people knew who she was; girls don't just get pregnant at fifteen in their town all the time. Ricky only tried to talk to her once, when she first came back to school; apparently that was his version of being there for their child.

_"Amy, wait!"_

_She rolled her eyes at the sound of his voice but stopped non the less._

_"You're back," he said after a second._

_"Well I'm not an apparition," she replied with a small smile._

_"How…how are you?"_

_"I'm fine Ricky."_

_"And how's…"_

_"Janie. Her name is Janie and she's four months old."_

_His eyes grew huge at that. He knew that Amy Jerguns was having his child but hearing her name and how old she was…hearing those details just made it real for him._

_"Did you think I was joking or something when I said I was pregnant?" she asked as she caught his face._

_"What? No! It's just, hearing all that makes it just…real," he said for lack of a better word._

_"Just because she's born now makes it real? It wasn't real when I was a balloon??" she laughed harshly. "I know you said you wanted to be involved in my daughters life but you're not going to be ok? You didn't care about me or even ask anything about her when I was pregnant with her! As far as she's concerned, Ben's her father," she said with a coldness in her voice that surprised the boy._

_"What? You can't just deprive me of my child Amy."_

_"Really? You deprived me of a normal teenage life."_

_"Come on," he pleaded. "This is completely unfair to me. I have a right to see my kid!"_

_"No you don't. Not any more," she said as she turned to leave._

_"So what, you and that geek are just going to play house with our daughter?" he asked getting upset._

_"Ben Boykewich is more of a man than you will ever be Ricky!" she hurled at him. "So don't you dare say things about him. Were you the one that was there in the delivery room with me? Were you the one that was holding my hair back when I was sick? Were you the one that asked if it was even a boy or a girl that I had? No, it wasn't," she hurled at him._

_"So that's just it then?"_

_"That's it," she said as she walked away._

_"Now that took balls Jerguns," Adrian said as she walked up to her friend. "You know, I think having this kid made you a little bit cool."_

_"Oh great, what I've always wanted," she laughed. _

"Hello?" a voice called through the door and Amy was shaken from her daydream.

"Daddy!!" Janie squealed as she jumped into his arms.

"Hey there Princess," he smiled at her and picked her up. "Where's Mommy?"

The little girl pointed to the kitchen and he walked in to see his girlfriend staring at him.

"What? Do I have something in my teeth? I knew I shouldn't have eaten that sandwich-"

"No," she laughed. "I just love watching you with her. You're pretty amazing you know that?"

"You forgot incredibly adorable," he said as he kissed her.

"Yuck!" Janie stuck her tongue out.

Ben put her down and she ran back to the living room.

"So…"

"Benjamin if you start in with this wedding stuff again I'm making you give back your key," she threatened.

He held up his hands in a truce. "Fine, fine. I just thought you should know that I changed my mind about the whole thing. But whatever, that's fine."

Amy narrowed her eyes. "What do you mean?"

"You know how you were always saying that you didn't want some huge wedding? Well…maybe you're right. Maybe we don't need all that. I mean there's nothing wrong with eloping right? Plus it'd save a huge headache for you," he said as he nudged her.

"But I have things on hold-"

"Cancel them," he shrugged. "Come on, don't you wanna just get away? The two of us?"

"It might be nice," she smiled.

"Make a cute little brother or sister for our daughter…"

"Are you giving birth to it? Because I'm on break for at least the next two or three years," she laughed.

"I can wait that long," he smiled in response and she rolled her eyes. "What? You know you love me."

"Yes I do, that's the problem here Ben!" she joked.

* * *

a/n: ok so this is my first secret life fic but i felt inspired lol. and yes i know that i took some people ooc either completely or kind of but keep in mind...this is in the future so they're not going to be the same person that they are on the show. at least not completely. :) last but not least, tell me what you think; i have the first two chapters already done if y'all like it


	2. Thirteen Years Later

Prologue

Chapter One- Thirteen years later

"You up Janie?"

"Yes," the girl called to her mother through the door. She sighed as she slowly got out of bed; the first of sophomore year. There were times, like now, when she was convinced that she was only one that hated first days of school; most of the schools population was probably popping out of bed to jump into clothes that they had laid out the night before. Janie Boykewich stumbled over to her closet and scratched her hair as she stared blankly at the clothes. It wasn't like she trying to impress anyone, hell she had a boyfriend and she hated high school anyway. With a sigh she grabbed a random pair of jeans and threw them on with a yellow fitted graphic t-shirt that advertised free Popsicles. Janie was different from most kids in several ways; one was the aforementioned hatred of first days of school and the second being that she was actually pretty popular at school but didn't exactly want to be. She started doing things in middle school because she figured it would make her parents happy and it did…and the activities just kind of stuck. She loved to sing but not really in front of people so what did she do? Joined the choir, not that she can read music or anything though. She also liked to run. So she joined the track team and became on of its stars. She would have been perfectly happy running around with her friends after school but her parents kept talking about their glory days in the high school band so she figured if she joined something, they might just shut up about it. If she had to hear the story of how they started dating one more time, she was tempted to tell them she was going to run away with a kid she met from the band. Just for a reaction, just to see what they would do.

"Janie!"

She poked her head out of the bedroom. "What?"

"Breakfast."

"Not hungry?"

"Not caring," was her mothers standard reply. Her mother was the type of mother that made sure you had three solid meals a day; or at least two seeing as how she couldn't control what they ate at school. It also didn't help that she owned one of the popular diners in town, she always brought home food. She sighed as she walked down the hall, banging on her brothers door as she went by.

"What?" was his muffled response.

"Food."

"Hey Jane, me and your mom were thinking-" her dad was saying as she sat down at the table.

"I am not going on that dumb vacation!" she snapped as he parents brought up their yearly vacation they took. They went to different places every year but Janie was now at the age where she would much rather stay home and hang out with her friends during the summer rather than travel with her family.

"Actually, I was going to say that I let you drive this morning," Ben smirked. "But if you're going to snap at me about that too…"

"No I can do that," she said sweetly. "After all I should be getting my license soon, right?" she looked at them.

"We already enrolled you in drivers ed. next month," Amy agreed.

"Sweet," she smiled.

"Alright hurry up you guys or all three of you will be late."

Ben got up and kissed his wife as she smiled and shooed him out the door. His job was somewhat of a joke between the two of them. He took up the cymbals years ago in order to get into the band to impress Amy and ended up actually liking it. He continued to practice music, even after Amy dropped it all, and took up the guitar and piano as well. Fifteen years after first looking at a triangle, he was the music teacher at the high school he used to attend.

* * *

"See, I told you it wasn't a big deal," Ben said as Janie pulled into a parking spot at school slowly, convinced she would hit something.

"Ok…that was more than just a little terrifying," the girl admitted sheepishly.

"It'll get easier."

"Meaning I can drive home?"

Ben pretended to look shocked. "You're actually going to be seen with your father after school today? And what do I owe the honor?"

She laughed. "You're right; on second thought I'll just see you at dinner."

"Thought so," he said as she kissed his cheek.

She bounced out of the car and walked up to the school, talking to her brother animatedly until they parted ways so he could go to the middle school and she to the high school.

"Oh my God Janie, your dad is such a fox," her best friend said as she walked up to her.

"Ugh!!" she cried as she put her hands over her ears.

"What it's true! I just never noticed…"

"Do me a favor and stop noticing," she said as she gave her friend a dirty look.

Julie Peters just shrugged and dropped the subject. "So where's Riley? Aren't you guys like attached at the lips or whatever?"

"Obviously not," she grinned.

"Ok schedule time," sang out the last person that rounded out their threesome. Janie, Julie Peters and Nadine Young had known each other since they were about seven and ever since they all agreed that school, boys and the Olsen twins were the Anti-Christ, they had been inseparable.

"I have lunch at the ungodly hour of ten thirty," Julie moaned.

"I have gym with that horse of a teacher Mrs. Erif," Nadine countered.

"I…have a free period?" Janie questioned as she looked at her schedule.

"What?"

She shrugged. "I have no idea."

"Lucky bitch," Nadine lamented.

"Oh please. That gym class will be the easiest thing the world," Julie rolled her eyes.

"Easy for you to say, you're not being taught by Mr. Ed," she shot back.

"Mrs. Ed actually," Janie corrected.

"See, thank you for understanding!"

Janie held up her hands with a smile on her face. They bickered all the time but it part of the reason they all got along. They came from three different upbringings and had different personalities but they managed to stick together no matter what. The bell rang and Janie shrugged on her bag as she walked with Nadine to their first class, tuning out her chatter as a boy brushed past her. He had roughly hit her arm and then kept going, throwing a backward glance over his shoulder and looked right at her. He had the most incredible blue eyes she had ever seen and his brown hair kept getting his eyes so he had to do a head shake to keep it out and he smirked at her as he continued to maneuver himself down the hall.

"Hello?" Nadine shook a hand in front of her face. "Earth to Janie Boykewich…"

Janie blushed as she turned to her friend. "What's up?"

"Oh I don't think so ma'am! Riley's missing for what, ten minutes and already you're checking out other guys?" she rose an eyebrow at her and Janie averted her eyes. "Oh my God calm down lady," her friend started laughing. "I was just kidding. Wow, you're face is priceless you know that?" she laughed as she walked into their classroom.

* * *

"Coffee?"

Ben looked up to see a Latina woman standing in the doorway, hand on her hip.

"I don't have a class for another hour," he replied and she smiled.

"Good because I definitely need some sort of caffeine to make it through today."

"Soda?"

"Please Benjamin," she snorted.

Fifteen minutes later they were lounging in the woman's office. "Alright I had a motive for doing this today."

The man raised his eyebrow but didn't say anything.

"I saw Ricky the other day," she said quietly.

"Ricky…"

She rolled her eyes. "I thought you were smarter than this. Ricky, you know the guy that's Janie's-"

"Got it," he interrupted. He hated the thought that Janie wasn't biologically his, although his daughter never knew it. They just said that she took after her side of the family and so far she bought it. But now, knowing that that scum was back in town, well that could make things difficult.

"When are you going to tell her again?" she cocked her head to the side.

"Never?" he asked as he took a sip of coffee.

"Right because that will work. She has ways of finding out Ben, you know that."

"What's he doing here anyway?"

She snorted. "Like I talked to him? Apparently they're moving back to town, his wife's demands."

"Who the hell would marry a guy like him?"

Adrian smirked as she raised the cup to her lips and his mouth dropped. "Tell me he's not gay!!"

She nearly spit out her drink as he started laughing. "That is so not funny!" she laughed.

"Oh come on, him and Jack? They'd be cute together," he shrugged.

"Do you really have to make two of the guys I used to date, gay together?" she pleaded.

He shrugged. "I didn't make them do it," he said innocently.

"I hate you sometimes you know that?"

He rolled his eyes. "But really who married him?"

"Our old Bible-thumping, Christian do-gooder herself."

"Could still be Jack," he pointed out.

"It's Grace you asshole!" she said as she threw an eraser at him and a knock sounded on the door.

"What's up?" Adrian asked.

"I have a free period…" Janie said confused.

"What?" Ben sat up straight. "How did you get that? I thought juniors and seniors…" he trailed off as he looked at Adrian for confirmation.

"Do I look like I make the schedules?" she held up her hands. "What part of counselor don't you get?"

He sighed as he got up. "Alright, let's go figure this out."

"Ummm, it's ok," Janie said as she stepped out of the office. "I can do it on my own. It's bad enough people know that you work here Dad," she said softly. "I don't need everyone thinking that you have to hold my hand for things."

"What was that?" he asked pointing after his daughter.

"She's sixteen Ben, come on."

"She's been in a mood lately," he grumbled as he sat back down.

"As much as I hate to say it, and I know you don't wanna hear it, that would be Ricky's sperm contributing to your daughter."

* * *

"Amy?"

She lifted her head as the blonde woman approached the counter with a big smile on her face. "Yes?"

"Oh my God!"

Amy racked her brain quickly. Obviously this stranger knew her and she did look familiar, especially when she smiled.

"…Grace?" she tried tentatively as the lady nodded and Amy relaxed a little bit. "Wow! What's up?"

"Oh nothing, I just moved back into the area actually. Me and my family," she corrected herself.

"And who would the lucky guy be?"

Grace faltered for a second and the looked back at her. "Ummm…it's actually…it's Ricky."

"Ricky?" Amy asked as her breath caught.

"Yeah," Grace said slowly. "Don't worry though, I already told him that he shouldn't try to find you," she said with a sad note in her voice.

"Oh… But won't he find out anyway? I mean…you're here."

She shook her head. "I said I was just going out for a little while. Although I do hope that we can be friends Amy," she said as she clasped their hands together.

She laughed with a nervous undertone. "Sure Grace. Friends," she said slowly.

"Great!" the blonde beamed. "So, do you mange this place?"

"Actually I own it," she said with a smile. "Ashley and I do, my sister."

"Wow," she replied impressed. "That must have been hard to do."

She shrugged. Her father had gotten into a car crash when Janie was still very young and Amy was bouncing from job to job and when he didn't pull through, it turned out he left everything he had to Amy and her sister. Ashley immediately wanted to open a restaurant, fresh out of culinary school, and Amy agreed to help her take care of it by becoming partners with her. Now the restaurant does so well that they actually net a pretty good profit and neither Amy or her sister were in any trouble when it came to finances.

"What about you? I mean this town isn't very big…"

"I actually work from home. I'm a writer for a magazine for Christian teen girls."

Of course she is, Amy thought and then immediately felt guilty for thinking that. Grace had always had strong religious beliefs and apparently nothing had changed. Although it made Amy wonder how much Ricky had changed.

"So did you end up marrying Ben?" Grace asked as she positioned herself in a comfortable spot.

Amy smiled a soft smile and nodded. "When we were eighteen we eloped."

"Oh my God that's so romantic! How old are you're kids?"

Amy gestured to a picture in a collage on the back wall. "Janie's sixteen and a sophomore and Ethan is about to turn thirteen and he's in seventh grade."

"Wow…" she said softly as Amy's eyes dropped.

She remembered back when she was pregnant and Ricky suddenly decided that he wanted to have a part in Janie's life that Grace was all gung ho with him and thought it was wrong that Amy had denied him.

"Does she know?" Grace asked quietly.

"No. We told the hospital staff he was the father and he adopted her as soon as he could."

Grace grew quiet at that. "Well perhaps it was for the best."

Amy nodded. "I think so."

* * *

"You'll never guess who I saw today," Amy said as Ben walked into the kitchen that night.

"Guess what?" he said at the same exact time. "Who?" he asked letting her go first.

"Grace Bowman. Well…it's not Bowman anymore-"

"Because she's married to Ricky," Ben finished. "Adrian saw him in town the other day."

Amy groaned. "Why is this happening?!"

"Why is what happening?" Ethan asked as he opened the fridge.

"Nothing," Amy said. "Why are you home?" she asked a second later. It was customary for both kids to be out until dinner; Janie doing her school activities or with Riley and Ethan going skateboarding with his friends.

"Jake got a girlfriend," he made a face.

"And he can't hang out with you anymore because of that?" Ben raised an eyebrow.

"They had plans or whatever," he said.

"Does that bother you?" Amy ventured.

He shrugged. "I don't know yet. Can I tell you at the end of the week?"

She laughed and nodded as he left the kitchen and they heard the television go on.

"It's not like Ricky Underwood is going to come knocking on our door demanding to see this girl that he's never even met. Come on, give the guy at least a little credit," Ben said softly, resuming their conversation.

"I guess you're right," she said as she played with her hair.

"Of course I am," he smiled. "Anyway, Janie is my daughter as far as I'm concerned. Some kid that we knew in high school isn't going to change that ok?" he said as he wrapped his arms around her.


	3. Meanwhile back at school

Chapter Two- Meanwhile back at school…

Grace smiled at the woman behind the counter as she turned and left the diner. Amy Jerguns…well Amy Boykewich now apparently. She couldn't get the image of her children out of her head. Janie should be Ricky's daughter, not Ben's, that she knew for a fact. Ricky was the real father, granted he wasn't exactly the best person for that in high school but he was so different now, and the thought of his daughter being right around the corner from him hurt her. There were always the rumors that flew around school involving those two, especially when Adrian dumped him and started dating Jack, but they were never true; at least not until senior prom when he asked her to be his date and then kissed her as they were leaving the dance. She remembered it so clearly sometimes it was like watching a movie for her…

_"What was that?" she asked softly as she pulled away._

_His face turned red but he wouldn't look away. "I'm sorry Grace, I just can't…I can't ignore this anymore."_

_"Ignore what?"_

_He sighed. "You know I like you and I know that you like me too. Why the hell are we playing the friends game huh? It's just a waste of time for us!"_

_"You like me?"_

_"You know I do," he said as he put his hands on her hips._

_"Ricky, I…I don't know what to say," she stuttered._

_"Say yes."_

_"Yes?"_

_"Yes you'll be my girlfriend," he said simply._

_She ripped away from his touch, surprising both of them. "I need to think about that."_

_"You don't want that?"_

_"I…I don't know what I want," she said firmly._

_"Yeah I can tell," he replied rolling his eyes._

_"Can you just take me home now?" she crossed her arms._

_He sighed but followed her to the car and took her home. "I'm right Grace, you know I am," he said as she got out._

_"Bye Ricky."_

_That was the beginning of the end for Grace. She couldn't stop thinking about what he said; did she like him? She always had a feeling he liked her more than just a friend but didn't say anything lest she come off as cocky or conceited. When he kissed her though…it was like fire raced from her lips to her heart and made it pump twice as fast as it usually did. That wasn't supposed to happen. She had kissed boys before; Jack, Robbie, Dave, none of that happened with any of them. Why was it so different with Ricky Underwood?? Not to mention he was a Grade-A arrogant jerk sometimes. But then there were the other times when he and Grace were alone that she saw the real him, the one that he hid from other people. One week and four days after he first kissed her, she marched up to him at the end of school._

_"Hi there," he smiled at her in a friendly way._

_"Fine, you were right," she huffed._

_His smile instantly changed from a friendly one to a smug one. "Oh I'm sorry, about what?"_

_"Ricky stop it!"_

_"That you like me too? That you liked kissing me?" he crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow._

_"Maybe," she said starting to lose her sudden burst of confidence._

_"Maybe? Well maybe I should refresh your memory," he said as he leaned in and kissed her again, in front of the entire school._

_"Ricky," she breathed as she pushed him and her heart rate slowly went back to normal._

_"What?"_

_"I didn't forget," she said with a smile._

_"I figured," he said as he kissed her again._

"What are you smiling about?"

Grace looked up, surprised to see herself at home.

"Lost again?" he asked amused.

She smiled sheepishly and went to stand beside him. "I saw Adrian the other day," he mentioned and his wife perked up. Adrian and her used to be friends back in the day until of course Ricky started dating her and it turned out to be serious.

"Maybe she's forgiven me by now," she said thoughtfully.

"For what?"

"For dating you."

He started laughing. "Yes, tell her that we're married and see how far that'll get you."

Grace bit her tongue as she almost told her husband about seeing Amy but thought better of it. If she said that she wouldn't tell, she wouldn't tell. Grace Underwood wasn't one for breaking promises and she wasn't going to start now.

* * *

"Hi there boyfriend," a girl coyly said as she sat down next to Riley Blake at lunch that day.

He sighed. "Hailey how many times do I have to tell you not here?" he hissed at her.

"Well if you just broke up with that whiny bitch then we wouldn't have an issue would we?" she smiled at him.

"Go away Hales," he said warningly.

She rolled her eyes. "Are we on for tonight?"

"Fine, whatever," he said hurriedly as he saw his friends coming.

"What did Hailey Bush want?" Nadine asked. "Wait, why am I asking this. Undoubtedly wants to share her STD's," she answered her own question, rolling her eyes.

His face turned red. "Uhh, I have no idea. We're in the same class so probably to share notes or whatever. Where's Jane?"

She shrugged her shoulders. "She had a free period," Nadine answered. "Where's Ray?"

Now it was his turn to shrug. Since he and Janie had been together for sometime now it was only natural for their groups to blend together and it just figured that their respective best friends would start dating.

"Where were you this morning?" Janie asked as she sat down.

"Ran late," he said as he focused on his lunch tray.

Where was he this morning? Oh that's right, making out with Hailey Bush on his bed. Right, the one thing not to say to his girlfriend that loved him. He felt bad for cheating on her but at the same time he just got bored of always doing the same thing with her, there was never any variety. Not to mention he was ready to take their relationship to the next level and she was still keeping up the good girl act. Hailey, not so much.

"You ready for tryouts?" Nadine asked.

"Tryouts?" Janie repeated confused.

"Janie!! You said you would do cheerleading tryouts with me," the petite redhead banged her hand on the table, managing to startle Janie and bring Riley out his daydream at the same time.

"You're trying out for cheerleading?" he asked her amused.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Janie turned to him.

"Nothing babe, it's just…well I don't picture enjoying that," he shrugged. "Besides you already have track and choir."

"You don't think I can do this," she accused him.

"Woah," he said putting his hands up. "I never said that Janie…"

"Kids," Nadine said putting her hands between them. "First off Janie, he never said you couldn't do it. Riley, let her try it. Besides, if she gets in then she'll be wearing those cute uniforms," she grinned as Janie scowled.

"I'll look like a cow."

"Shut up!" they both yelled.

"Fine!" Janie finally agreed. "I'll do it," she said without looking at her boyfriend.

"Thank you," Nadine grinned. "The tryouts are after school today…"

Janie tuned her out again as the same boy from that morning walked by her, this time glaring at Riley, not paying any attention to her. She followed him with her eyes wondering why he hated her boyfriend so much when Nadine kicked her and gave her a warning look.

"What are you doing?" she hissed after Riley left. "You can't check out guys when your boyfriend is right there!"

"I wasn't checking him out! And he was looking at him like he wanted Riley's head on a stake or something."

"That's great for him," she replied. "I mean I was kidding this morning but Jane, that's twice in one day. Is there anything going on that you're not telling me here?"

"What?! No!!"

"Then pay attention to your boyfriend, you know the kid that loves you?"

Janie rolled her eyes and made a face. "Whatever, I have to go fix my schedule."

"You didn't do that yet?"

"Nope. I hung out in the library instead," she grinned.

"I don't get you; it's like you like reading or something."

"It's like…I do like reading," she said back slowly and her friend gave her the finger.

* * *

"Can I help you?" the bored looking student asked.

"I was told Adrian Lee worked here."

"What's she do?"

"Excuse me?"

"What does she do here?" the boy repeated slowly.

Grace looked around. "I have no idea, I just know that she works here."

"I know Ms. Lee."

She turned around to see the girl from the picture collage at Amy's diner.

"She's a counselor."

"Thanks," she smiled warmly at her. "Do you mind showing me where she is?"

Janie looked at the boy behind the counter who went back to doing his homework and shrugged. "Sure."

"So how do you know Adr-Ms. Lee," Grace caught herself.

"Well she works here and I've known her my whole life, my parents are friends with her."

"Your mother runs that diner in town right?"

Janie just looked at her.

"I was in there earlier and saw a picture of you. I'm sorry, I don't mean to freak you out or anything."

"No it's…fine. Yeah my mom's Amy Boykewich, her and my aunt run that," she said as she approached a door. "Adrian?" she asked as she knocked on it.

"What's up Janie?" she smiled at her. "Skipping classes already?"

"Not really, I have someone who's looking for you."

Adrian got up and adjusted her skirt. "Hi I'm Ms…." She trailed off as she saw who it was.

"Adrian, hi," Grace smiled warmly.

"Grace," Adrian replied formally.

"I heard that you worked here," she followed the woman into her office and took a seat.

"What do you want Grace?"

The blonde's smile faltered. "I…wanted to say hi. I mean it's been so long and everything."

"Funny, I remember why we stopped talking and I'm pretty sure you married that reason."

"Adrian, please, that was years ago! We're all grown up now…"

Adrian glared at Grace and then a sweet smile appeared on her face. "You're right Grace. We are grown up now."

"Adrian…" Grace sighed knowing that smile. That smile meant that Adrian Lee wasn't going to budge. That smile meant that Grace could eat shit and Adrian wouldn't care. She had seen it plenty of times, most of which were before they were friends.

"Oh and another thing Grace, if you tell that husband of yours where Janie is or anything else about her, I will make sure that you are sorry for it."

"I'm not going to that, I already saw Amy and told her that myself. I still think it's wrong that Ricky has no idea where his daughter is but I mean if Ben adopted her and she thinks Ben is her father it's not right to upset her I guess…"

"That's right. It's not. Maybe we _can_ be friends again," she said as she maintained her glare.

* * *

"Ok so we're going to do a right hercie, a toe touch and then a split, ready?" the blonde leading them said.

"No," mumbled Janie as Nadine bumped her.

Janie Boykewich was definitely not the most coordinated person on the planet and she wasn't sure who to blame for that one, her mom or her dad. In fact, she wasn't even sure why she was here doing this. She watched as Nadine flawlessly jumped her way through the routine and ended in a perfect left split and rolled her eyes. Her friend had this in the bag, they both knew it and Janie suspected the only reason why she dragged her to this was so she wouldn't feel left out if Nadine did make the squad. Which was ludicrous just to think of, Nadine would never leave her best friends out of anything and even if she did start to drift away from them, Janie had plenty of other friends, or at least people she was friendly with, to talk to.

"Hello?" one of the cheerleaders called in her direction.

Crap, of course she would be caught not paying attention. She looked at the girl and realized that she knew her. Hailey Bush.

"Do you think you can keep up?" she asked with a smirk and Janie immediately took a dislike towards her.

"Yeah, I'm fine."

The girl snorted and Nadine narrowed her eyes.

"You know she was all over Riley at lunch today before you came," she started in the locker room after the tryouts were over.

"Who?" Janie asked with a start.

"That Hailey slut."

"Dina, she's not a slut," Janie rolled her eyes.

"Oh yes she is."

"So if you make the squad, does that make you a slut?"

Nadine glared at her. "It does if I'm hanging all over a taken man Janie!"

"What do you mean all over?"

"I mean looking like she might as well just crawl into his lap and spoon feed him his lunch. It was gross."

"Huh…" was all Janie could think of to say. She thought that her and Riley had a good relationship; they had been together for a little over a year and she knew that he loved her. But then again, Nadine Young was not the type of person that lied to her friends, especially about something like this.

"I mean did you hear that snide remark she made towards you? Seriously, me and Jules could have her taken out you know."

"Ok first off, she caught me not paying attention. Sue me. Second off, you and Julie having ties to the mob sounds like a good plot for a bad sitcom."

"I'm just saying-"

"And I'm just saying I'll take care of it," Janie snapped.

"Fine, whatever," her friend retorted as she picked up her bag and walked out of the locker room.

* * *

"So did it work?"

"Did what work?" Grace looked at Rick with a perplexed expression.

"Did she talk to you?"

"Well she kind of had to, I showed up at her door."

Grace was already having a hard time with this secret she agreed to keep, especially since she had already interacted with Amy Boykewich and Ricky's own daughter. It was only a matter of time before Ricky himself bumped into either Amy, Ben or Janie and then it would all come down on her and that wasn't something she was looking forward to.

"Have you figured anything out for a job yet?" she changed the subject and he sighed.

"No. Telling people the reason you were fired was for having a close relationship with a client doesn't exactly make them want to hire you Grace."

She looked down at the ground and didn't say anything. Kerri Hilbert; the reason they moved back to their hometown in the first place. She was a great girl and she became one of Ricky's patients when she told him that her father beat her on a regular basis. Grace, being the woman that she is, felt horrible for the girl and wanted to make her feel loved or at least like someone cared for her so she encouraged him to take her to lunch or invite her over their house. It worked for a little bit; until people caught onto what Ricky was doing. Kerri loved being at their house and Grace adored her, but adoring that girl so much cost Ricky his job. There wasn't many cases of abused children in their town so of course he hadn't found work yet, and the only work he could think of doing would be at the school. That was the first thing that crossed his mind and when he told Grace that, she bit her lip and shook her head.

"I don't think that's such a great idea."

"Why not? It'd be perfect!"

"I just mean, well you're social worker, isn't there a constant need for you? Talk to the mayor or something."

"What's wrong with the school Grace?" he raised an eyebrow.

She sighed. She knew couldn't win this fight without giving away what she swore she wouldn't. "Nothing honey. If that's what you want, then go for it."

"That's my girl," he said as he smiled and kissed her on the head.

"Yeah, I'm your girl," she mumbled after him as she left their house.


	4. Ghosts In The Machine

Chapter Three- Ghosts in the Machine

"So were the tryouts as bad as you expected?"

Janie sighed and rolled over. "Well I guess not, except for the fact that we all know I'm only coordinated when I run. Besides that I'm a klutz," she laughed. "Although Dina said something interesting."

Julie waited for a minute to see if her friend would finish her sentence. "You know I hate it when you do that," she said.

"Do what?"

"It's like you pause in the middle of a sentence; you're a walking fragment Janie Boykewich!"

"Well…that's a first," they both laughed. "But anyway, Nadine said that she caught Hailey Bush all over Riley at lunch today."

"And that surprises you?"

"Well I guess so. I mean I don't think Riley would do that you know?"

"Yeah but she said Hailey was all over him, not the other way around. And we all know the reputation that Hailey Bush has," Julie rolled her eyes.

"Why does everyone keep saying that?"

"Are you serious? How have you not noticed her clothes lately? It's like a walking prostitute, only modestly dressed."

"How can they dress-"

"By wearing the shortest dresses they can find but still being clothed. Oh and they also make sure that the clothes are so tight that every single detail of their body is exposed. Like when it's cold, everyone knows."

"So wearing tight clothes makes you a prostitute? I don't get it," Janie said as she looked down at her own tight jeans.

Julie just sighed. "Forget it Janie. You'll understand when you're older."

"I'm older than you are," Janie threw at her.

"Well then, we have an issue don't we?" Julie giggled as her friend threw a pillow at her.

"Seriously though, I don't think you have anything to worry about with Riley," Julie spoke again, getting serious. "The kid's obviously in love with you Jane."

"That's what I keep telling myself. But then why would Nadine say that? We both know that she isn't the type of person to spread bullshit."

Julie shrugged but didn't say anything; her friend had a point there. Never once in the course of their friendship had any of them lied to the other one about something big and important.

"I'm sure it was nothing though," she said trying to reassure the girl.

"Yeah I hope so."

"Girls!" Amy yelled up the stairs. "Dinner!"

"Hi Julie," Janie's brother said shyly as they all sat down.

"Hey Ethan," she smiled warmly. Janie had informed her friend a while ago that her little brother had developed a crush on her and instead of putting an end to it, like Janie had told her to, Julie had just treated him nicer, doing nothing to solve the problem at hand.

"You look pretty today," he said with somewhat more confidence after she had smiled at him.

"Oh my God," Janie groaned while rolling her eyes.

"Thanks," Julie said as blushed and ignored her friend. Truth be told Ethan was a cute kid and in a few years when he grew into himself a little bit more, girls would be falling at his feet. Julie Peters liked to think that he liked her first and this way when they were both older and he was the good looking guy on campus, his looks wouldn't go to his head and they'd still be friends.

"So how was your day honey?" Amy asked while looking at Janie.

"It was alright, the normal first day of school," Julie said as though Amy was talking to her.

Janie started laughing. "Yeah, what she said."

"Did you get that free period worked out?" Ben asked.

She shook her head. "Nah, I decided to hide out in the library instead. And then when I tried to, some woman was trying to find Adrian so I took her there."

Both of her parents' heads popped up at that.

"What do you mean some woman?" Ben asked cautiously.

"Just what I said, some woman. I guess she knew you Mom because she said she talked to you earlier in the day," she shrugged.

"Grace," Amy muttered.

"Yeah something like that."

"Did she say anything else to you?" Amy asked after a minute.

"Just that she saw my picture at the diner so she recognized me." As she said that both her parents visibly relaxed.

"What's going on?" Janie asked after a minute. "You guys are acting strange."

"Us?" Ben asked.

"No the weird people behind you."

"Nothing honey. It was just…a weird day that's all."

"Ok," she said in a tone that conveyed the fact that she didn't believe her.

* * *

"You almost got me in shit today."

The girl just laughed. "Please, Nadine Young doesn't scare me. Neither does your little girlfriend Boykewich. A Care-bear is scarier than her."

"Yeah well…"

"What are you so afraid of?" she asked as she put her hands behind his neck.

He bristled at that. "What? Nothing! I just don't want to hurt her that's all."

She rolled her eyes. "She was such a joke at that tryout today. I really wish I had a camera so I could have recorded it."

"I should break up with her huh?" he asked a second later.

"Wouldn't that like crush her or whatever?"

"Well it's better than what I'm doing now."

She laughed again, but this time it was bitter. "When the hell did you grow a conscience? For the past six months you haven't had an issue with this," she said as she got off his lap and glared at him. "As far as I'm concerned, this has been great for you."

"What, you don't get any enjoyment out of this either?" he smirked.

"Of course I do! I get to fuck you without worrying about the usual bullshit and I know that I'm making you happier than that mess of a girl."

"She's not a mess," he said quietly.

"Whatever," she said flippantly.

"She's a good girl Hailey."

"And I'm not. So what? Apparently you're not that great of a guy," she said as a knock sounded on the door. "Greg's picking me up," she explained as she started getting her bag together. He walked her to the door and opened it to reveal a pair of cold blue eyes looking at him.

"What's up man?"

"Where's my sister?" he asked in a bored tone.

"Let's go," she said as she brushed past him.

Greg turned to leave but not before he gave Riley such a scathing look he was pretty sure he was going to spit on him.

"What the fuck…" Riley muttered to himself as he shut the door.

* * *

"What are you thinking about?" Ben asked as they lay in bed.

She sighed. "Nothing. Everything."

He waited patiently for his wife to finally say whatever it was, he knew that if he pushed her then she would just clam up and be mad at him and he was too tired for that.

"I just don't want Janie to find out Ben. After all these years…and they've been good, happy years! We're a family and I'm just afraid that she'll find out that you're not her father," she said sadly.

"Adrian saw her too Amy. And if I remember Grace, she always tried to get on her good side and they were friends for a while. I think we'll be fine," he said as she rubbed her back.

"But if we're not?" Amy quietly asked the question that they were both thinking.

He sighed. "Well she's old enough to choose," he said back just as quietly. "She can either pick the shitbag that didn't care enough to be around or me, the guy that she's known her whole life. Janie's smart, I don't think she'd fall for his act."

"She can't leave Ben, she just can't."

"I know honey. She won't ok?"

With that being said, Amy snuggled into his chest even deeper and slowly drifted off to sleep.

* * *

"Well isn't this idyllic?"

"What time is it?" Ben asked without even opening his eyes.

"Why does it matter?"

"Because you shouldn't be here."

"Well I am."

"Apparently it's not a nightmare," he sighed as he rolled over and opened his eyes. "As much as I love you Ashley, what the hell are you doing in my bedroom of all places at," he paused to look at the clock, "nine o'clock in the morning?"

She shrugged. "I was bored."

"It's nine a.m. Ashley," he said in a warning voice.

"Thanks Ben, I'm glad you told me twice. I didn't catch it the first time," she rolled her eyes.

"I'll give Janie the keys to your precious new car if you don't get the hell out Ashley," Amy grumbled.

"That was low Boykewich," she glared at her sister as she retreated to the kitchen.

"I hate her," Amy mumbled as she rolled back over.

"Why isn't she at home?"

She shrugged but stayed silent.

"Amy, I know you know."

"I'm sleeping!!"

He sighed but left it alone. If his wife wouldn't tell him then he would have to find out on his own, as usual.

"The least you could do is make me coffee," he complained as he came downstairs.

He found his sister-in-law already drinking a mug at the table.

"Oh you're good," he said as he sat down next to her.

"What?" she glared at him.

"Why are you in my house Ashley?"

"Because we're family!"

"Yeah that's great. Why are you really here?"

She sighed. "We had a fight," she said reluctantly.

"You and Henry?"

"No, me and the Pillsbury Dough Boy," she snapped.

"About what?"

She rolled her eyes. "I feel funny talking about this with you," she admitted after a few minutes.

"What?"

"I don't know. It's just…this is like a girl thing."

"Ash, you don't have girl things," he cracked and she slapped him on the arm.

"Seriously, what could be so bad that you can't tell me?" he raised an eyebrow. Over the years he had grown closer to Ashley and she became his little sister as well. She used to call in the middle of the night during college or after a boy had broken her heart and when Amy wasn't around for whatever reason, Ben was the one that usually heard all about it. That happened several times and by then a bond had somewhat formed between them and had been there ever since, sometimes to his wives annoyance.

"He wants a baby," she spat out.

Ben just started laughing.

"I don't see what's so funny!"

"You and Henry are in a fight because he wants a baby? I don't see what's so wrong about that!"

"You had a kid at fifteen Ben, no shit," she sneered.

"Ashley you're twenty-eight and the diner is doing great. Why not? What are you so afraid of?"

She looked away. "There's more isn't there?" he guessed.

"Isn't there always?" she agreed. "He wants to have a kid…after we get married," she said quietly.

"What?" Ben's eyes grew huge.

"I know!!"

He shook his head. His best friend had a thing for Ashley ever since they first met when she was thirteen and he hung out with her as friends until she turned twenty-one, just like she told him to. Of course they both dated other people but it was never serious for Henry and when it got serious for Ashley with a guy, he would get all depressed for weeks thinking that she had forgotten all about him. It was actually a woman's reaction and Ben had told him so many times, just to be cussed at. In the end though, Henry won and they started dating, and breaking up, and dating again; it was a vicious cycle they had although they both loved each other.

"It's about time!" Ben exclaimed.

"What is that supposed to mean?" she narrowed her eyes.

"Ashley, the kid has a thing for you since you were a teenager!"

"I saw it coming," Amy said as she came from their bedroom.

"Oh good, come to everyone else's defense," Ashley rolled her eyes.

"Oh shut up. You love him, we all know it and he's crazy about you! What's the worst that could happen?" Amy questioned.

"It's just, things work great as they are right now. So many of my friends have gotten married just to tell me that it was better when they were just dating each other instead. I don't want to go down that road Amy; I can't," Ashley said quietly.

"You're not going to," Amy said putting her hand over her sister's. "You are so different from them and so is Henry! He's not going to let you go Ash and I can't see you letting him go either. You have always been in each others lives and I don't think either one of could fully function without the other."

She sighed but didn't say anything.

"Ashley?"

She turned around to see Janie coming downstairs looking confused. "What are you doing here?"

"Leaving. I need to fix some things at home," she said as she looked at her sister who smiled at her and nodded.

"I'll call you later."

Both of the adults nodded at that and Amy's face grew sour. "Which one?"

Ashley laughed. "What's the point? You're both going to find out."

* * *

Adrian shut her car door as she juggled her cup of coffee, purse and multitude of folders. She sighed and shook the hair out of her face when she was done and marched toward the school, what little smile she had on her face was erased when she saw who was in the office.

"Well Mr. Underwood, I think you'd be a fine addition to our staff," the principal was saying as he shook his hand. "This must be your lucky day," he chuckled as he spotted Adrian heading their way.

"What is this?" Adrian asked, not trying to hide her disgust.

Her boss looked right over it and smiled at her. "Ms. Lee this is Mr. Underwood and I think you two will become close friends, seeing as how you'll be working with each other," he said as he walked away.

"What?!"

"Oh what's the matter Adrian?" Ricky asked with his easy going grin.

"Don't talk to me," she muttered as she stalked away from the man.

"Adrian," he said as he caught up with her. "How was I supposed to know that you were the school counselor huh?"

"Why are you here Ricky?"

"Because I work here now. With you," he said the last part sweetly and she rolled her eyes in disgust.

"Doing what?" she crossed her arms.

"Social work."

"You have to be kidding me," she snorted.

"I could say the same about you, Ms. Counselor."

"Whatever. Look we have two separate offices, so we will not be talking got that? If I need you, I'll email you," she turned on her heel and left.

"Hello?"

"It's me, we have to talk. Now."

"Adrian, it's my day off," Ben complained as Amy smiled beside him.

"Look Boykewich, I don't give a damn if you take every sappy anniversary off; get in here. Now."

"Adrian can't you just tell me now?"

She sighed. "Bring Amy with you," she said softly and he looked towards his wife in confusion.

"What?" she asked as Ben hung up the phone.

"Adrian wants to see us…"

"For what?"

He shrugged. "This better be good," he mumbled as he got up to go change.

"So how does this work?"

"I told you to stay in your own office," she spat at him.

"Well I have a job to do Adrian! Do we share students, what?"

"How about if they need help I can't give, I'll send them to you," she said in a duh fashion.

"Well what am I supposed to do until then?"

"Play with yourself, I don't care! Haven't you done this before!?"

He looked down. "Not really. I worked with a private practice before this but had to leave."

She looked at him severely but her curiosity got the better of her. "Why?"

"I got to close to a client of mine. She was a young girl," he was cut off as Adrian snorted and he glared at her. "She was a young girl that was abused by her father but didn't have anywhere else to go."

"You shacked up with your client?" she stared at him incredulously.

"Do I look that dumb to you?" he demanded.

"Do you want the honest answer?" she demanded back.

"Alright what's the big…"

Adrian turned to see Ben and Amy walk up to her office but then abruptly stop when they saw who was inside.

"Ricky," Amy was the first to say his name.

"Hey Amy," he smiled. "Boykewich," he muttered in Ben's direction.

"What's going on?" Ben demanded.

"This charming young man is now the school social worker," Adrian said in a grumpy fashion.

"Isn't that what you're for though? Why is he here?" Amy spoke up.

"Nice to see you too," Ricky rolled his eyes and Ben narrowed his eyes at him.

"If there's something that God forbid Adrian can't handle, that's where I come in. She's the counselor; I'm the social worker. It's quite easy to understand. Don't worry Boykewich, I'm not trying to steal your wife or anything," he said to Ben as he noticed Ben stepping in front of Amy as if to shield her.

"Please," Amy snorted. "Like I'd let you touch me again."

"I see some things haven't changed."

"Exactly, they haven't. So stay the hell away from our family," Ben snapped.

Ricky put his hands up in the air. "Calm down, damn. I don't even know your family."

"Good."


	5. Answers

Chapter Four- Answers

"Is it true?"

Riley looked up to see Janie's eyes boring holes into his head. "Uhh…is what true babe?" he licked his lips nervously.

"You and Hailey Bush," she spat at him. "Don't pull that innocent crap with me Riley, the whole school knows!"

He sighed. "Janie," he said putting his hands on her shoulders. "It was a long time ago ok? Like when we first started dating long time ago."

Her stance faltered a little bit. "Really?"

"I wouldn't lie to you about this," he said softly as he kissed her lips.

"You promise it was that long ago?" she whispered and he smiled.

"Yes. I would never do anything to hurt you babe."

She nodded slowly. "Ok."

"I'll see you at lunch yeah?" he hugged her as she started to walk to her first class and she nodded.

"Jesus that was close," he said under his breath as he stuck his head back inside his locker.

"You're scum you know that right?"

"Who the-" Riley pulled his head out to see Greg, Hailey's brother standing there.

"What do you care?"

"Well one, you're using my sister. I have an issue with that. Two, you're fucking around on your girlfriend."

"And what's your interest in my girlfriend?" he sneered.

"Nothing. Yet," he grinned as he walked away.

"What does that mean?" he called after the boy but Greg just ignored him and kept walking.

* * *

"Oh my God have you seen the new counselor?" Nadine sighed as she flopped down at the lunch table.

"Yes!!" Julie squealed and Janie just looked at them both.

"What?"

"You are so out of the loop. His name is Ricky Underwood and he just started like yesterday. Can you say dreamy?"

"I'm sorry, did you really just call someone dreamy?" Janie raised an eyebrow. "The fifties called and they'd like their slang back."

Her friend shot her a dirty look. "Oh trust me you will so feel the same once you see him. So what happened with you and Riley this morning?"

Janie shrugged self-consciously and pushed her food around on her plate.

"Janie! You said you were going to talk to him!" Julie narrowed her eyes at her.

"I did! He admitted to it and said it was like when we first started dating. That was like ages ago, I can't hold that against him now."

"Oh yes you can," both of her friends said in unison.

"I can't believe you believed that," Julie muttered.

"Janie, every guy is going to say that," Nadine said to her like she was speaking to a child.

"Guys! He said it wasn't true and I believe him. That's enough for me," she said firmly.

Nadine rolled her eyes as Julie got up from the table. "Well as much fun as this was, I'm now late for class."

* * *

"I can not believe that he is working there! At the school where our daughter goes!!" Ben seethed as he paced back and forth in the living room.

"Honey, calm down," Amy said softly as she guided him to the couch.

"What are you so calm about?" he turned to her. "The other night you were convinced that he was going to whisk our daughter away and that would be the end."

She sighed. " Well maybe you're right. I'm sure he's not there to seek out Janie. He can't be that same kid he used to be when we knew him right? He's probably just trying to do his job, just like everyone else."

Ben's mouth dropped open.

"What?" she asked as she crossed her arms.

"When the hell did you start to defend Ricky Underwood?" Ben asked in disbelief.

"I'm not defending him! I'm just saying that maybe you were right and we should give him the benefit of the doubt. He probably doesn't even remember what I told him her name was, much less if it's a boy or a girl you know?"

"Amy-"

"Ben," she said putting her hands in his. "Let's just see how things go ok? We can't have our guards up all the time; it's exhausting and it's too hard to do around the kids."

"So what, we just tell Janie that she was adopted? That I'm not her real father?" Ben took his hands from his wives and crossed his arms.

"That's not what I'm saying! All I'm saying is that we give Ricky a chance and see what he does, if he does anything."

"I don't like this Amy…" Ben glowered.

"I know. But thanks for doing it anyway," she said as she kissed him.

* * *

"Hi…"

"Is there a reason you're camping out beside my car?"

The women ducked her head. "Can we go out? To catch up and all that?"

Adrian sighed. She had missed her old friend and she didn't have that many girlfriends at all, that hadn't changed.

"I promise Ricky has no idea that I'm here," Grace held up her fingers in a mock Girl Scout salute and Adrian snorted.

"Grace I don't really care if he knows or not. I have enough faith in you to think that he doesn't pull your puppet strings."

"You have faith in me?" she asked in a small voice.

"A very tiny amount, yes," the brunette rolled her eyes and sighed. "Now get in."

"Where are we going?" Grace smiled.

"Does it matter?"

"I think it's nice that you and Ben are such good friends now," Grace smiled as she bit into her chicken.

"We're friends because we work together."

"Oh. I thought Janie said she knew you her whole life…"

"She has. I thought Amy was stupid for keeping the baby and for getting married at eighteen but in a small way being around Janie was like being around Ricky," she admitted slowly. "I didn't exactly get over Ricky for a while Grace. Janie was his child so if I was around her, I was around him."

"You really liked him that much? I had no idea," Grace said as she hung her head.

"Don't play that card Grace Bowmann. You knew that I liked him, I told you that when you decided to ask for my permission to date him, remember that? I told you no for a reason."

"I didn't know-"

"You thought I said no because he wasn't good enough for you or something?" Adrian cocked her head to the side, a smile playing at her lips.

"No! I just thought that you didn't want me with him because you knew he would try something and you…you didn't want anything to happen."

Adrian laughed. "Why would you have thought that?"

"Because we were friends Adrian!" Grace's voice rose a little. "Or at least I thought we were. You were my only real friend I had for a while. After I started dating Ricky and you disappeared, well all I had was Ricky really."

"How sad for you."

Grace sighed. "Adrian, all I wanted was to catch up today. It's been so long and I've missed you so much but if it's going to be like this then I'll just go home."

"Fine. Bye."

Grace looked at her old friend sadly and gathered her coat and purse and started walking to the door.

"Grace!" Adrian called to her. "I was kidding, come back."

She turned to look at her with a look. "I'm sorry ok? That was mean, I'll admit it," she rolled her eyes.

"Adrian-"

"You were my only real friend too you know," Adrian said suddenly. "Ricky was like my stability. If I needed a guy to fu…have a good time with, he was always there. He knew what was going on in my life with my family and then you wanted to take that away from me. I figured what kind of friend would want to do that?" She raised her eyes to Grace's and her friend saw the truth in the statement. There was no veil clouding Adrian's eyes, no sarcasm, no hardness. There was a vulnerability there that Grace hadn't seen in years.

"I didn't realize that," she said softly.

"I know."

"How is your dad?" Grace asked tentatively.

Adrian shrugged. "I kept in contact with him for a little bit because I had to but when I turned twenty one, I told him to get out. He couldn't keep trying to have an input in my life when he had walked away so long ago, so I told him where he could put his ideas."

Grace's cell phone chose that moment to go off and both girls jumped a little bit as the noise startled them.

"Hi. I'm with Adrian. No I'm not kidding," she laughed. "Yes I'll be home soon. Love you," she smiled as she hung up the phone.

"Who knows Grace, maybe you were the one that was able to fix him," Adrian said softly as she looked down at the table.

* * *

"Did you and Adrian play nice today?" Ricky asked amused as he stroked his wife's hair in bed that night.

"Yes," she rolled her eyes. "I think we're going to be okay you know?"

"That's good." He paused for a minute. "I think I'm going to talk to Amy."

"Amy?"

"Yeah. I mean we have a daughter somewhere out there and I'm assuming that she still lives with her."

"Ricky are you sure about that?" Grace looked up at him.

"It's my daughter Grace," he said in a matter of fact fashion.

She sighed. "She probably doesn't know anything about you honey. It's been what, sixteen years?"

"You think that dweeb adopted my baby?" his face hardened.

"I think that Ben became the father that Amy wouldn't let you be," she replied simply. "They got married when they were eighteen you know."

"So?"

"So I'm telling you that she thinks Ben is her father. Do you really want to tell her differently?"

"Grace-"

"Think about it; she's sixteen and has a good life and now you're going to suddenly appear and claim to be her father? How do you think she'll take that?"

He sighed. He knew that Grace had a point but at the same time, that was his daughter somewhere out there and he couldn't just ignore that fact.

"Why now?" she asked softly.

"What?"

"Why are you asking about her now? Adrian asked me that today and I had no answer for her…"

"Adrian knows?"

"She's not dumb Ricky. She's been friends with Amy and Ben since she was born."

"Adrian is not friends with them. She could put up with them…but not the Adrian I remember."

Grace sighed. "You know, we could have a baby," she said hesitantly.

"No we can't," he said automatically and she sighed.

Five years ago, after trying numerous times to get pregnant and failing, they went to her doctor and asked if there was something wrong. It turned out that for years Grace had a series of benign growths within her uterus that caused infertility. The growths were removed of course, but the infertility remained.

_Ricky slammed his fist on the table. "Give me a better answer than that Grace!" he demanded and tears streamed freely from her eyes._

_"There must be a reason for this condition Ricky!! If God wanted me to have children then this wouldn't have happened," she said miserably. "I must have a different purpose in life."_

_"What about my purpose? What if I want kids Grace? What then huh? What am I supposed to do?"_

_"We can adopt," she said firmly as if she was trying to make herself feel better and he scoffed at the idea._

_"We can adopt a child that belongs to someone else? Yeah, that will be fun when they get older and realize that they don't act or look a thing like us. Good one."_

_"Well you think of something then!" she yelled at him. "It's not my fault that this happened Ricky so just stop it! You think I did this on purpose? You think that I don't want my own children?? Of course I do!!"_

_He smiled an ugly smile. "Well, look who found a backbone in the trash today," he said as he got up and left the room, leaving his wife behind him staring after him with her jaw open._

_"I'm sorry," he mumbled in her ear the next morning._

_She lay still in the bed and pretended to be asleep because she knew that if she moved, the moment could very well be ruined._

_"I know it's not your fault Grace, I just…I just wanted kids so bad you know? I know we can adopt but I don't want that. It was hard enough fathering one child already and not be allowed to be a father," he said softly. "Breakfast is downstairs when you're ready," he said softly as he kissed her head and left the room._

_She sighed as she rolled over. She completely forgot about the daughter that was somewhere in the world with Amy Jerguns. That was why he was so against adoption, because he was a father that wasn't allowed to see his child, he had to give her up against his will._

_"Do you ever think about looking for her?" Grace asked from behind as she entered the room._

_"I figured if Amy told me to fuck off when the girl was four months old, there's no chance she'd talk to me now," he shrugged. "It'd be a lost cause," he said with a sad note in his voice._

_"You've changed a lot you know that?" Grace asked as she wrapped her arms around him._

_"How so?" he leaned back into her embrace._

_She paused to think about it. "Well for one, you're such a huge jerk to people anymore," she grinned. "And you really grew up you know? You take responsibility for your actions now and just the fact that we're fighting about having kids…it says a lot," she laughed. "I wish that Amy could see you now. I bet she'd let you be the father that you can be," she murmured._

_"Yeah well, no use beating that dead horse," he sighed and turned around. "But God I love you."_

_She smiled at him as he kissed her forehead. "And I'm sorry for being a douchebag about the baby thing, it wasn't fair."_

_"No it wasn't," she agreed._

_"Are you ok?"_

_She shrugged. "I will be. Like I said last night, obviously I just have a different purpose in this life."_

_He sighed and shook his head. "I wish I could believe in things like you do, it must be nice."_

_"It is," she smiled at him._

"What about a surrogate?" she asked him.

"You'd let me fuck someone else?" he rose an eyebrow. "I mean not that I would…"

"No. It's a medical procedure silly. They can put your sperm in someone else's body and they can deliver the baby."

"Huh."

"Is that a good or bad huh?"

He shrugged. "Just huh."

* * *

"Why do believe him?"

Janie shut her locker to find herself face to face with that guy she couldn't stop looking at in the cafeteria; the same guy that couldn't stop looking at her actually.

"What?" she whispered, caught off guard.

"Your fuck of a boyfriend. Why do you believe him?"

"Who are you?"

"Does it matter?"

"Uhh, yeah it does. What do you even know about Riley?"

He cocked his head to the side. "That he's screwing around with my sister," he smirked. "So like I originally asked, why do you believe him?"

Janie's eyes went big and she tried to keep her breathing under control. "Look, I don't know who your sister is or anything, but I think that you, and everyone else, just needs to keep their nose out of our business. You guys don't know anything about us!" she said as she shut her locker.

"Come with me," he said as she held out his hand.

"No!" she looked at him like he was nuts.

He sighed. "My name is Greg; I believe you, and everyone else, knows my sister Hailey?"

"You're Hailey Bush's brother?"

"Why does that shock everyone?" he rolled his eyes.

"Because you're the complete opposite of her!"

"Yeah well some of my family still has their morals, not many of us though," he smirked. "So are you coming with me?"

"Where…where are we going?" she asked hesitantly.

"Somewhere of interest to you, I promise," he said mysteriously as he held out his hand again.

She looked around quickly to see if Nadine or Julie was around to give her crap for talking to this guy and then nodded. "Sure…"

"Good; I've been wanting to do this for a while," he replied as he started walking ahead of her.

"Janie?"

The girl looked up as she walked across the parking lot to lock eyes with Adrian and a guy that was next to her.

"Don't tell Dad," she said as she got into the car.

"Don't get knocked up," Adrian called back and Janie whipped around to stare at her. "Just kidding! Be back by the end of the day so he doesn't notice," she finished and Janie smiled as Greg drove away.

"Who was that?"

Adrian turned to Ricky and shrugged. "A student. Hello, we're at a school."

"Adrian," he said in a strained voice and she kept her eyes on the ground.

"What?" she asked quietly.

"Is that…is that my daughter?"

"I can't answer that," she said as she started to walk away.

He caught her arm and whirled her around to look him in the face. "Adrian."

She bit her lip and looked at the man that used to once hold her heart and shook her head. "I'm sorry Ricky, but I can't answer you."


	6. Fathers on parade

Chapter Five- Fathers on parade

Benjamin Boykewich sat in his office, staring at the wall absently. He knew that this would happen, it was unavoidable, but now? Today? He sighed as he lowered his head to his desk and just kept it there.

"Ben," a voice said as the door opened.

_Twenty six pairs of eyes zoned in as the counselor stepped into the room and fixed his gaze on Ben. Ben, taking in Ricky's expression and jumpy attitude, told the sophomores to finish reading the music on the board, write on a piece of paper and then they could have the rest of the period for free time. Free time, being that they stayed in the room; there was always at least two students who thought they'd be wise and say that free period meant they were free to do and go wherever they wanted._

_"What's up?" Ben asked warily as he sat down with the other man across from him._

_"How old is my daughter?"_

_"What?"_

_"My daughter. How old is she?"_

_"Ricky-"_

_"Answer me Ben," he said in a deathly quiet tone and Ben looked down at his hands._

_"Fifteen."_

_"Does she go here?"_

_"Yes," he whispered._

_"Did you and Amy ever think about telling me this?" he asked as his voice rose a little bit._

_"To be honest no," he sighed. "I know that you know that I adopted her and as far as she knows, I'm her father. We don't want to mess things up for her right now, it'd be too hard on her."_

_"Yeah, well what about now?"_

_"What about now?"_

_Ricky just stared at him. "I saw her Ben!"_

_"Janie?"_

_"Yeah, you know, the kid that I have with your wife!" he half yelled and the chatter dropped to a silence in the other room and Ben cringed as he realized that his students heard that._

_"I'd appreciate it if my sophomore students didn't know all about my life," he said quietly and Ricky held his hands up in apology. "When did you see her?"_

_"A few minutes ago. She was in the parking lot with some guy."_

_"Probably Riley," Ben muttered to himself and Ricky rolled his eyes._

_"Adrian won't say shit about it so I know that you have something to do with it. And when the hell did you guys get all buddy buddy huh?"_

_"Since we started working together about six years ago. She used to come over to see Janie a lot when she was a baby and helped Amy out with her. I think it was because she missed you though," Ben added quietly._

_"Do I get to meet her?"_

_"You're asking permission?!" Ben asked in surprise and Ricky shrugged. _

_"Well I figured that you're right. I mean she has no idea that you're not her father-" as he said that Ben flinched as if the comment hurt but Ricky paid it no mind. "But I'd like to at least be able to talk to her you know? I know Grace would like it too."_

_"You and Grace,what is that?"_

_"She's my wife," he dead panned. "We can't have kids of our own, so if I was able to have a relationship with Janie, I know she'd love it too."_

_Ben suddenly stopped and a weird look crossed his face. "Oh God. If that does happen, Grace could be considered her step mother," he said as Ricky laughed. _

_"Let's not tell her that part."_

_Ben stared at the man in a little bit of wonderment. Here was Ricky Underwood, the same arrogant boy from high school; still the same yet completely different. Sixteen years had changed him a lot, but Ben still wasn't sure that he wanted him to sink his claws into HIS daughter. No matter if Ricky was the biological one, he was her real father. Nothing would change that._

"Dad?" Janie poked her head around the door. "I got a note…"

Ben reluctantly picked his head up off his desk to look at his daughter. "You skipped."

"What?"

He looked at her. "You really gonna try and lie about it Jane?"

She sighed. "Did Adrian tell you?" she accused and he shook his head.

"It doesn't matter how I know; I still know that you did."

She rolled her eyes. "Yes, I did."

"Can I ask why?"

"No."

"What?" he eyes grew wide and she shrugged. "It's…personal."

"Janie, I'm your father."

"Yeah, I know. But this is the kind of thing that Mom would understand more than you."

"Oh really?"

"I think so," she crossed her arms in defiance and he sighed.

* * *

God. Riley and Hailey, Hailey and Riley. She couldn't get it out of her head. The image of her boyfriend smiling at the girl that was in his arms, that wasn't Janie by the way, and then kissing her tenderly, as if she was the only girl that mattered to him in the world. But she wasn't. Janie was the only girl that mattered to him in the world. Or…she was supposed to be. Apparently she was got ranked second, in line behind Hailey Bush.

"I just thought you should know, " Greg said quietly from the drivers seat as Janie watched, in horror, her boyfriend make out with Greg's sister.

"How long?" she asked in a strangled voice.

He shrugged. "A while."

"A while?!"

"I became her ride back and forth like a month or two ago."

"You knew?" she asked in a pained voice.

He looked at the steering wheel as guilt crossed his face. "Yeah. I knew. That was why I always look at Riley like I want to kill him, because I think he's a dick for doing this to you. And fucking around with my little sister doesn't help. I thought you would have figured it out by now," he said.

She sat there silently, refusing to look at the couple and instead stared straight out through the windshield.

"Could you take me back now please?"

"Are you ok?" he asked her softly.

"Yeah I'm fucking peachy," she replied as her voice broke. Shit. She did not want to be crying in front of this guy, this very cute guy as a matter of fact, that she barely knew. Despite all that, she could feel the tears fall from her eyes and she turned her face from him.

"I'm sorry," she sniffed a few minutes later.

He touched her shoulder gently and she turned to him. "It's ok," he said in a tone that conveyed more than one meaning and she started to cry again, this time, falling into him as he patted her hair in an effort to calm her.

"I'm gonna kill him," she said as they pulled back into the school twenty minutes later. Those twenty minutes had allowed her to go through hurt, pain, sadness and now they were onto anger and possibly revenge.

"You should," Greg muttered.

"How could he do this? I mean we've been together for over a year, what the fuck? And you know what, I really thought he was different you know? But apparently he's just like every other fucking guy; if a girl won't give it up, it just gets old right?" she laughed bitterly and sighed. "I'm sorry Greg. You don't need to hear me bitch about this, it's not fair."

"I don't blame you," he shrugged. "I'd be pissed as hell."

She smiled a little smile at him. "Kinda."

"Don't apologize Janie. I just thought it was time for you to know," he said as they exited the car.

* * *

"Jane Elizabeth."

Janie turned around to see her mother standing in the kitchen with her arms crossed.

"I take it that Dad called you?" she smiled wanly.

"You take it right. What made you think that skipping school would be a great idea?" she sat down and motioned for Janie to take the chair next to her.

"He also told you that I wouldn't tell him didn't he?" she sighed.

"You are on a roll with guesses today," Amy replied, her expression not changing.

"Alright. So there's been these rumors at school about me and Riley. Things like that he's been cheating on me with some slut at school and I never believed it. Well apparently he is and I caught him red handed," Janie said looking miserable.

"You skipped class to catch your boyfriend cheating on you?" Amy raised an eyebrow and Janie nodded.

"The girls brother knew about it and told me to come with him. So I did and he took me to the park where they were just going at it, for the whole world to see!"

"They were having sex?!"

"No Mom. They were just making out but seriously, it makes me look like a joke. Like I just blindly believed him. God I'm so stupid," she moaned as she put her head on the table.

"Sweetheart, you're not stupid. Those things happen and it's never your fault."

Janie let out a sharp laugh. "Right, not my fault. He got bored with me Mom. I didn't give it up to him so he found it elsewhere," she said bluntly and Amy flinched at the casualness of the conversation.

"Well then forget him Janie! He wasn't worth your wait," she said laying a hand on her arm. "If you're dating someone that doesn't agree to wait until you're ready, then they don't deserve you and there is someone out there that will wait."

"Yeah the geeky AV guys," she muttered and Amy laughed.

"Your father was a geeky guy," she told her.

"And?" she said motioning towards herself. "Obviously I'm the freak. The freak that thinks that virginity is just oh so cool. I'm going upstairs," she said as she got up.

"Janie? Don't do it again ok? I'll look the other way this time, but next time…"

"Dad will chew me up and spit me out?" she joked and Amy nodded with a smile on her face.

"Pretty much."

"Thanks Mom," she said softly as she started upstairs.

"So? Was the big reason that she couldn't talk to me about?" Ben asked as he walked in the door five minutes later.

Amy sighed. "It's…a girl thing honey. You wouldn't understand."

"What?!"

"I'm not sure you would understand," Amy trailed off as she bit her lip, unsure of if she should tell her husband or not.

"Amy, of course I would," he said his voice softening.

She smirked. "Ok fine. She started her period today and needed to get some tampons from the drugstore," she raised an eyebrow.

"Why didn't she just go to Adrian?" he asked in confusion, completely unphased.

"Forget it," Amy said throwing her hands in the air.

* * *

"You were right. You were all right," she said in glum voice and her friends sighed.

"Janie, we wouldn't lie to you about this. I told you, I've seen them!" Nadine insisted.

"I know. It's just…why me? Why does this have to happen to me you know? Is it because I'm not pretty enough? Not fun enough? Not…sexy enough?"

"Janie!!" Julie yelled. "You are beautiful!! And if you weren't fun enough, you really think this wild child here would be friends with you?"

Nadine snorted. "I would too." A pause. "Ok well maybe not best friends…"

"Exactly my point. As for you being sexy, well…I have no idea," she sighed.

"It has nothing to do with you being sexy Janie. It has to do with Riley not being able to keep it in his pants. I know that you were holding out on him and you have your reasons for it, and if he doesn't understand that, well fuck him!"

"You sound like my mom," she muttered.

"Dude your mom had you when she was your age, you think she might know a thing or two?" Nadine said in a tone that implied that Janie was dense.

"Besides, there's plenty of guys even that are still virgins," Julie pointed out.

"Oh really who?"

She shrugged. "I don't know. Would you like me to ask the entire student population to wear a friggen sign around their neck to see if they've done it or not?"

Janie narrowed her eyes. "No. Ok seriously, what am I going to do when I see him tomorrow? Do I slap him, do I ignore him?? What?"

"I think you should dress super sexy, but not slutty, and then tell him that he's missing all of that," Nadine smirked.

"My father works at the school Dina."

"Your fathers hot Janie."

"I…I agree," Julie said after a second.

"UGH!!" Janie yelled putting her hands over her ears. "You guys, can we be serious here??"

"I am being serious," Nadine insisted. "I think you should show him what he's missing. And then slap him. But just because that's fun," she grinned.

"I think you should just tell him pointblank that he's a douche bag and a pig and you want nothing to do with him."

"This sucks," Janie sighed.

"Could be worse," Julie shrugged. "He could have an illegitimate child somewhere."

"Jules!!" Janie yelled while laughing.

"Janie??" Ben asked while knocking on her door.

"Crap. I gotta go guys."

"Have fun with your hot dad," Nadine laughed and Janie made a face as she hung up the phone.

"Mom told me about today," he said as he sat down on her bed.

"She did?" Janie raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah. I mean I know I don't fully understand but getting your period is nothing to be ashamed of hun."

She burst out in laughter. "My period? Wow!! Yeah Dad, my period. That's why I skipped," she said with a smile.

"That's…that's not why you skipped is it?" he asked.

"No but go Mom for that one," she laughed. "It was something to do with Riley and me but it's fine now. Whatever."

"Riley. You skipped class because of your boyfriend?"

"Dad, forget it. Really. Won't happen again," she said as she held up her hand in a promise.

* * *

Amy sighed and punched in the numbers on the piece of paper in front of her.

"Hello?"

She sighed. "Ricky, is your wife there?"

"I'm sorry, is this Amy? Amy the woman that wants nothing to do with me?"

"Is she there Ricky?" she asked through clenched teeth.

"What do you want with her?" he asked as he crossed his legs, getting enjoyment out of teasing her.

"You know what, forget it. I'll just talk to her later," she said as she took the phone away from her ear.

"Alright, I'm sorry! Hang on."

"Amy?" Grace's voice came through the line and a sigh escaped her, this time in relief.

"Grace I think I need some help."

"From me?" she all but squeaked.

"Yeah. Remember back in school when you caught Adrian and Jack together?"

"Amy, what does that-"

"My daughter just went through something similar and I thought you could help her."

"Janie?" she asked curiously.

"I only have one daughter."

"What happened?"

Amy smiled. "I'll let her tell you that one, if she does and if you're interested."

Grace smiled a huge smile. "Yes, I am! Thank you Amy."

"Thank you. And…don't tell your husband," she added as an afterthought.


	7. You promise me heaven

Chapter Six- "You promise me heaven then put me through hell"

Riley slammed Greg against his locker as Greg coughed in surprise.

"What the hell did you do to my locker?" Riley seethed.

"What are you talking about?" Greg asked as he knocked the other boys hand away from him.

Riley replied by holding up a sign that read "PIG" in big red letters, as well as an "A" in the same color.

"You think I would really waste my time coloring for you?" Greg asked as he raised an eyebrow.

"Well you're the only one that knows what's going on."

"Riley!"

Both men turned and their jaws dropped to the floor as Janie Boykewich walked up to them in a tight, revealing yellow sweater with a short denim skirt.

"What are you doing?!" Riley demanded as she soon as she got close to him.

"What?" she looked at him like he was nuts.

"Janie, what are you wearing? Everyone's gonna think you're desperate or something. And besides, I don't want other people checking out my girlfriend," he said as he punched Greg in the arm, who was very obviously still looking at Janie.

"Your girlfriend. Right, funny thing about that," she paused as Greg smirked, knowing what was coming.

"If I was your girlfriend you would never cheat on me right?" she asked sweetly and Riley swallowed hard.

"Right baby," he said as he went to kiss her but she stepped back.

"Here's the thing, I'm not your baby Riley. And if you were still my boyfriend, you wouldn't be fucking his sister," she said as he pointed at Greg and Riley's eyes grew huge.

"Jane, what are you talking about?"

She snorted. "I have eyes you know. I'm not as dumb as you think I am. And you can go fuck yourself," she said softly as she walked away, drawing stares from other boys for her outfit.

"This isn't over," he threatened as he stalked away from Greg.

"I think she said it was. Are you deaf or something?"

* * *

Ricky Underwood walked into the restaurant and stopped as he looked at the woman laugh with the man seated at the counter. She would never laugh with him, hell she never smiled at him. He knew that what he did was wrong, running away from the whole thing when she was pregnant. He also knew that he was stupid for thinking that she would be civil to him and let him meet their daughter.

"It's seat yourself," a boys voice said and Ricky turned to see a boy that looked like he was eleven standing next to him.

"You really don't work here do you?" he asked bluntly. "What are you eleven?"

He bristled at the man's comment. "I help my mom. And I'm thirteen," he said as he turned on his heel and walked away. Ricky could have sworn he heard an 'asshole' slip out under his breath too but he wasn't sure.

"Can I help you?" Amy appeared as soon as he sat down.

"Coffee?" he smiled weakly and she crossed her arms.

"Look Ames-"

"It's Amy," she snapped.

He sighed. She wasn't going to make this easy on him, that was for sure. "Look, I know that Janie goes to school where I work. I've seen her."

"Good for you."

"Come on Amy, I need to meet her," he said quietly.

"Why? You didn't want anything to do with her when I was pregnant with her," she said as she flipped her hair over her shoulder.

"I was sixteen!"

"Yeah, I was too Ricky. It wasn't any easier for me either," she said softly. "She has a good life and she's happy. Why can't you just leave it alone?"

"Are you serious? I have a child Amy. And she's here. Are you really asking me why I can't leave this alone?" he raised an eyebrow.

"I mean you never cared before," she shrugged. "Why start now?"

"It was never like that Amy," he sighed. "It was just…complicated."

She shook her head. "You know what Ricky, I really don't care. Just leave Jane alone," she said as she walked away.

"Well how much do I owe you for the coffee at least?" he called to her.

"Consider it on the house," she said without looking at him.

* * *

"Hey," a boy smiled at her as he passed.

She glanced at him and smiled. Apparently she looked good dressed like this and she would have done it so much earlier if Riley hadn't insisted that she looked like a tramp and was desperate.

"Has anyone told you that you look really good today yet?" a voice behind her said and she jumped as Greg stuck his bag next to her.

"I think I just peed myself!" she said before she could think. "Wait…"

He laughed. "I think you're ok."

She blushed. "What's up?"

He shrugged. "Nothing. Do you know who did that to what's his face's locker?"

"Riley's locker? What happened?" her eyes grew wide.

"Someone put a sign on it that said pig and a big red A," he shrugged. "I wish I could take credit but…"

"Is that what you guys were fighting over?" she cocked her head.

"Janie, men don't fight. We talk with our fists."

She rolled her eyes and looked back at her notes for class.

"So what are you doing later?"

"That depends," she smiled.

"On what?"

"On who's asking," she replied coyly.

He stared at her. "Oh. Right. Well there's this kid Mark that sits like three rows behind me in Geometry and he said that the kid that sits two seats away from him-"

"I get it!" she said laughing. "And nothing."

"So do something with me then," he grinned.

"Well when you put it that way…"

"I know, guys are jealous of my ways. I'll pick you up at seven," he said as he got up.

"How do you know where I live?" she asked him and he just raised an eyebrow at her as he walked away.

She turned back around and looked at her notebook again but her mind was elsewhere. Who would have thought that the person that pointed out that her boyfriend was cheating on her would ask her out? And furthermore, it was the sluts brother!! The bell rang and shook Janie out of her daze and she grabbed her books and exited the library.

"Jane!" an older voice said sharply and she stopped short. It didn't belong to her father or to any of her teachers…

"Yes?" she turned and looked at him with a confused look.

"What the hell are you…." He sighed. "Where's Ben?"

She stared at him silently. "I work here. With your…dad," the man said after a minute and it looked like it pained him to do so.

"Umm…I don't know," she said giving him a weird look.

He gave her one last lingering look before nodding and walking away.

* * *

"Somebody woke up late."

Ricky turned to see his ex…whatever, standing in the doorframe.

"I talked to Amy."

"Amy as in Janie's mother, Amy?"

He nodded. "I asked to meet Jane."

Adrian laughed. "Ricky, you have never been a person that asks before he does anything. And did you expect her to be all 'oh sure Ricky, we're having a barbeque this Saturday!'"

He scowled at her. "I was hoping for at least a little support," he snapped and her grin disappeared.

"That's what you have a wife for. Last time I checked, we just work together," she said as she spun on her heel and walked out. "What?" she demanded as she saw the curly haired man in her office.

"Coffee?" he pouted and she sighed.

"Do I have a choice in this?"

He paused as he pondered her question. "Will you end up dumping it on me?"

She gave him a look. "Well you're not a certain ex boyfriend of mine, so no. You're safe."

"Then no, you don't have a choice," he smiled at her and steered out of the office. "Dare I ask what he did to you now?" he asked in the car.

She rolled her eyes. "He says that I should support him."

"Doesn't Grace do that?" he arched an eyebrow.

"That's what I said!!" she exclaimed in agreement. "And he keeps trying to snoop on Janie."

"What do you mean?"

"Well he talked to Amy today for one," she said as she checked her make up and he stopped the car at a stop light.

He sighed. "He's never going to stop until he meets her."

"I think he did today actually."

He turned to his friend, eyes wide without saying a word.

"Well she came to school in something I would condone her wearing and he saw her. So he said something," she shrugged.

"Maybe we should just home school her," he said thoughtfully.

"Orrr you could suck it up and talk it out like the big boy you are," she said pinching his cheek.

* * *

"Janie?" Amy stuck her head out of the kitchen as the kids came home from school.

"Loser," Ethan muttered as she pushed him into the living room. She entered the kitchen to see the blonde woman from the school sitting at the table with her mother.

"What's up?"

"I don't think we've met yet," the woman said tentatively as she got up. "I'm Grace Underwood."

She nodded. "Right, Adrian's friend," and Grace smiled.

"I told her about what happened with you and Riley and-"

"MOM!!" the girl grew red and crossed her arms.

Grace just laughed. "It's ok Janie. I had something similar happen to me when I was your age. Your mom just thought we could talk about it," she shrugged.

"There's nothing to talk about; I took care of it."

"Meaning what?" Amy arched an eyebrow.

"Meaning I told him what he could do with himself," she smiled.

"But how are you feeling?" Grace countered and Janie shrugged.

"Whatever. I have a date tonight with a guy that I think I kind of like…so I guess I'm ok."

"You already have a date?"

She nodded. "With the girls brother too!" she laughed.

"Are you sure about that?" Grace asked in a worried tone. "I mean he could be just trying to hurt you, like his sister did."

She faltered. "I don't think so… I mean I saw him and Riley fighting this morning so it's not like they get along or anything," she trailed off as Ben slammed the front door.

"I am going to kill him Amy! I hope you'll visit me in prison!" he yelled out as he entered the kitchen and stopped short when he saw everyone there.

"He seriously….hello everyone!" he covered up. "Janie, what the hell are you wearing?" he asked immediately as he took in his daughters outfit and she rolled her eyes.

"Clothes," she said in a duh fashion. "It's not like I'm falling out or anything."

He closed his eyes. "Just…go change. I don't want to have to see that."

"Whatever," she huffed as she went upstairs.

"Grace, what are you doing here?" he asked a second later.

"I asked her to come here to talk to Janie."

"What?!"

Janie heard her mother sigh. "Riley cheated on her and we both know that Grace can do more than relate to that."

"He cheated on her?" he asked, his eyebrows drawing together. "You know, I never liked him."

"And you're not going to pretend to be big and bad and do anything either," she said in a warning tone.

"Babe, we both know I don't have to pretend," he rolled his eyes and she laughed.

"She's beautiful you know that?" Grace said after a minute and Amy and Ben grew quiet.

"Yeah she is," Amy agreed.

Ben cleared his throat awkwardly. "Umm, could you tell Ricky to leave her alone though? He can't just start talking to her like he has been, she has no idea of what's going on."

"What did he say?" Amy asked.

"I have no idea, all he told Adrian was that he said something to her."

Grace sighed. "I don't know how much longer I can do this. I'm lying to my husband about his child!"

Janie's eyes popped open as she sat on the stairs and eavesdropped. What just happened?

"If she's that important to him then he can wait to meet her."

She got up slowly and walked down the stairs. "Who can wait to meet me?" she asked in quiet voice and all three adults turned to face her. "What's going on?"

* * *

a/n: i'm sorry it took me so long to update this one, i had no idea of where i wanted to go next. so i apologize if this chapter is a little sucktastic, it's kind of filler for where i want this to go next. and i actually had a whole different idea for how janie would find out...but i think this works too. :) let me know what you think and where you think should happen next!!


	8. Out with it

Chapter Seven- Out with it

Grace sat in the kitchen by herself, staring off into space. She had broken the promise she had made, she had spilled the beans about Jane. But not to her husband, that would have been too easy. No she had to say it in front of the girl herself! That was fun, trying to cover everything up so she wouldn't realize what they were talking about.

"What were you doing at Amy's?" Ricky asked as soon as he stepped into the kitchen and Grace jumped.

"What?"

"I saw your car Grace…"

She shrugged. "I was talking to Amy; it's not a crime honey," she smiled. "And how did you see my car? Tell me you weren't doing something dumb and following me around town."

He shook his head. "I was coming back from the gym and I have to drive through their neighborhood. All you did was talk to Amy?"

She looked down at the coffee cup and he tensed up. "You talked to her," he said softly.

"She overheard me talking to her parents about how you wanted to meet her," she started to explain. "She confronted us about it but Amy said that you used to be a really good friend to her in school so that's why you wanted to meet her so bad."

"She bought that?" he asked incredulously.

"I don't think so," Grace frowned.

He sighed. " This was not how I wanted her finding out…"

"I'm pretty sure Ben didn't want her to find out at all if it makes you feel better," she spoke up.

"No it doesn't Grace. Not really," he said pointedly and she blushed.

* * *

"She is not that dumb Amy, you know she saw through that!"

"We don't know what she heard Ben!" Amy yelled right back. "Besides, I highly doubt that she'll go running up to Ricky. She's smarter than that at least."

"Are you ready for this? I mean if she did know what was said," Ben asked softly after a minute.

His wife sighed. "I don't really have a choice do I? You?"

He shook his head. "She's my daughter Amy. I'm not ready to lose her yet."

She sat down and put her arms around him. "Ben, I'm sure she's not going to disown you or run away. She's not that type of girl. She knows who her father is," she said as she tapped his chest and he smiled a little bit.

"He's not going to get her," he said with determination and she shook her head in agreement.

"Never," she promised.

* * *

Her parents best friend? Did they really expect her to buy that?! Obviously this guy had some connection to her and no one wanted her to find out about it. And what was that Grace was saying about her being his child?? Things were just getting way too weird now.

"Thank God," she sighed as she got into Greg's car that night.

"Rough day?" he asked.

She shook her head. "I don't even know how to describe it," she laughed a little bit.

"What's up?"

Again she shook her head. "Just…family stuff," she said wryly. "Now what are we doing?" she asked changing the subject.

"Well I was thinking we could go to Tuesdays and then maybe a movie?" he asked and she forced a smile.

"…Sure."

"Or we could also go play laser tag and black light mini golf."

She laughed. "Is there really a question to that? I am going to own you at laser tag!"

He scoffed. "Umm excuse you but I have been the reigning champ for the last seven games."

"Seven games? That is such an odd number. That's like having 2.5 children," she remarked.

"Well maybe one of the kids is a midget," he bounced back.

"That appears to be the only explanation," she agreed with a smile.

Ok so the kid was a little weird at first but he was really sweet and he made her laugh and he seemed to get her. In fact she was starting to forget about how he was related to Hailey Bush at all.

"One more time," she grinned as she poked him.

He rolled his eyes. "I got beat by a chick at my own game."

"Gets better every time," she sang as she skipped ahead.

"It was a fluke!!" he insisted and she laughed.

"Really? So those last seven times you played, were they with five year olds? Because seriously, that was sad. You hit the wall more than you hit me," she teased.

"Well where did you learn to shoot anyway?" he huffed.

"It's a toy Greg. You don't learn. Now come on," she said as she grabbed his hand and dragged him towards the indoor golf course.

"Now, at each hole, when we get one in, we need to reveal something about ourselves," she announced sounding rather pleased with herself.

"I feel like I'm at camp," he muttered and she gave him a look.

"Yeah but at camp we can't do fun stuff."

He arched an eyebrow. "Oh really? Like what?"

She smirked. " Like this," she said as she leaned in close to his face, his breath caught and he leaned forward as well, just to have her move away at the last second.

"You are cold," he grumbled. "And that, for the record, is not fun stuff."

"For you," she retorted.

He won the first hole and looked at her expectantly. "Oh Mastermind? I believe you owe me something."

"Ok. Ummm…I've never broken a bone," she said after a minute.

"Four times. Twice in my arm, once my leg and once my finger."

"God who the hell do you fight with?" she joked.

"My dad," he said simply and she grew quiet.

"Wow, Greg. I'm…I'm sorry. I didn't mean-"

He shrugged. "No it's ok. He doesn't live with us anymore and I never see him so it's whatever."

"What? Just like that?"

"Why not?"

She stared at him. "Because you can't just shrug that stuff off! Did you tell anyone?"

"I'm telling you now aren't I? And anyway, I did; that's why he's in jail. And not everyone needs to know about my business, I don't need to tell anyone I don't want to."

She paused as she looked at him. "And you wanted to tell me?" she asked quietly.

"I just did, didn't I?" he breathed in her ear as he walked past her to the next hole.

* * *

Amy looked up as her daughter shut the door later that evening. "How was it?" she smiled.

"I really like him Mom," Janie grinned. "And he's so much nicer and funnier than Riley ever was."

Amy smiled. She had never liked her daughters previous boyfriend, but of course never told her that. She thought he was conniving and only wanted her for one thing. Plus he would make rude jokes around her and more often than not, Amy found Janie moping around the house on a weekend night because Riley had forgotten they had plans and went out with his buddies instead.

"Can we talk?"

Amy shook her head to clear the thoughts of Riley and nodded.

"What happened earlier tonight?" Janie asked bluntly.

"What do you mean?"

"You really think I buy that whole thing about this guy Ricky being an old friend of yours? I'm sixteen Mom, I'm not that dumb."

"It's really complicated Jane…"

She snorted. "Do you even watch 'One Tree Hill' Mom? If I can follow that I'm pretty sure I can keep up. Besides, this involves me."

Amy closed her eyes, unsure of how to word this. "You know how old I was when I had you right?"

"Yeah, you were my age. You and Dad started dating when you were like thirteen or something weird like that."

"No we didn't. We started dating when I was fifteen," Amy said slowly.

"Mom you skank! You met Dad and just jumped into bed with him!" she joked and swatted her mother on the arm.

"No… He knew about you when we started dating though."

"Knew about me? What?"

She took a deep breath but Janie beat her to it. "Dad's…not Dad is he?" she whispered and Amy shook her head as tears spilled over her eyes.

"What happened?" she asked softly, stunned as she put those pieces together.

Amy sagged at the counter and Ben entered the room. "Mom met this kid Ricky at school and they went to band camp together. They came back and you were there," he said.

"Wait- so you shacked up with this kid at camp and I was the outcome of that?" she asked in disbelief and a twinge of hurt crept into her voice as well.

"It was never like that," Amy quickly said. "At least for me and you father it wasn't," she said as Ben squeezed her hand.

"Who is my father?" she whispered.

Amy shook her head. "I haven't let him contact you. He walked away from me after that trip and he walked away from you."

"What? No he didn't Mom. He walked away from you, not me," she snapped.

"Jane-" Ben started and she turned on him.

"So did you start dating her because you wanted to play house or something? Pretend that I was all yours for all these years?" she asked bitterly and started to cry as Ben looked like he was slapped in the face.

"You are mine," he said fiercely. "You are my daughter Janie. I don't care if Ricky donated part of him to you, you will always be my daughter. I raised you since you were born and I will never, ever turn my back on you."

"You lied to me for my whole life!" she cried out as she stood up.

"Jane we did it to protect-"

"Protect me from what? Some guy that didn't want me? Big fucking deal!" she spat out as she ran upstairs leaving Amy crying at the kitchen table and Ben standing next to her, looking like he had just taken the beating of a lifetime.

* * *

"I need to talk to you," Janie said and the man looked up from his computer and his mouth dropped.

"Jane…"

She walked in and shut the door. "What happened with you and my Mom?"

He froze. "What are you talking about?"

"Listen…" she paused while trying to debate what to call him. "Ricky, I know that you're my father ok?" she said softly and he closed his eyes and exhaled loudly.

"Wow, that was quick. They actually told you that?"

"I heard it from your wife, she promised them she wouldn't tell you something," she said as she sat down. "So you and Mom?"

"It was hard Jane; we were sixteen at the time when your mother found that she was pregnant," he said after a minute.

She paused. "Why did you run away?" she whispered, not looking at him and he felt his heart break into a million pieces.

"I wasn't ready for all that Janie. I was sixteen and my biggest concern was if Adrian was mad at me that day or not. I couldn't handle a baby on top of all that."

"Did she ever ask you for help?"

He grew silent. He could think of multitudes of times where Amy had phoned him, pleading with him to be a part of this with her and every time he said no.

"She…did," he finally said. "I was very selfish at the time Jane. I know it's no excuse but believe me when I realized that you were real and your mom came back to school, I tried to talk to her but she wouldn't give me the time of day. It's not that I didn't want you…"

"Are you selfish now?"

"Slightly less so," he smiled slightly.

"Are you still scared of me?" she asked looking down at her lap.

"No," he said firmly and she looked up. "I found out who you were the day Adrian saw you running out of school with some boy and ever since then I've been trying to get your parents to agree to let me meet you."

"You mean my mom. Ben," she said emphasizing his name, "Isn't my parent."

"You better believe he is Janie. He raised you, he took care of you, he loves you with all his heart. Why do you think he was trying to chase me away? He didn't want you to find out that you weren't his Jane," he said softly.

"But I'm not."

"No, you're not," he agreed. "But he would die for you and that's what fathers should do for their kids."

"Would you?" she asked and he paused.

"I…I would yes," he stumbled and she sighed as she got up and left the room without saying a goodbye.

"You did a good thing Ricky," Adrian said softly as she came in.

"What did you do, put an ear to the wall?" he asked sarcastically.

"You didn't close the door all the way," she pointed out. "Anyone could have heard you. And I never thought that I'd say this, especially to you, but you're not that bad Underwood. I never would have expected those words to come out of your mouth today."

"Trust me, I'm just as surprised," he groaned. "I hate the thought of Ben being her father."

"I know you do. But what you told her, is what she needed to hear. Who knows, maybe you have grown up," she said as she got up from the chair.

"Ya think?" he rolled his eyes.

* * *

"Hello…" Nadine waved a hand in front of her best friends face. "Earth to Jane!"

"What?" she raised her eyes to her friends face as she swatted at the hand that was shaking.

"What is wrong with you? You've been on a different planet all day," she complained.

Janie sighed. "It's just been…difficult at home lately."

"Am I going to be getting more depth than that? Come on…" she trailed off as Janie's face lit up. She whipped around to see Greg walking towards her with a smile on his face and she rolled her eyes. "Well you don't waste any time do you?"

"Weren't you the one that was telling me to break up with him?" she questioned as she popped a fry in her mouth.

"That does not translate to rebounding to the next guy Janie! No offense," she said as Greg sat beside her.

"None taken," he shrugged.

Janie slit her eyes at her friend. "So you wanted me to dump the guy that was cheating on me and then cry over him for who knows how long? No, I don't think so. Besides, he treated me like shit anyway. He always left me home when we made plans because he just conveniently forgot about them and we both know he wanted in these," she said pointing to her pants.

"Do I get to answer that?" Greg asked wiggling his eyebrows and she slapped his arm lightly.

"No."

"Damn."

"Just…be careful ok?" Nadine said scrunching up her face.

"Stillll sitting here," Greg commented and she rolled her eyes.

All the sudden Julie appeared out of nowhere and plopped down next to Nadine. "Well hello cute new boy," she said grinning at Greg and he laughed at her.

"Taken," Janie said without thinking and she grabbed his hand and then blushed when she realized that they had only gone on one date and they hadn't even thought about giving themselves a title yet.

"Well I say he's a trade up," Julie commented and he nodded.

"Thanks, so do I," he joked, not letting go of her hand.

"And Janie, what's up with your dad? He's all mopey today, he's usually like super happy and shit."

"Yeah…apparently he's…not my dad," she said after a second and all three pairs of eyes flew to meet hers.

"Wait, I don't get it," Julie commented.

"Ben isn't my dad," she repeated. "They lied to me my entire life. Apparently the new counselor guy is actually my father."

"Wait, the new dreamboat!?" Nadine's mouth dropped open.

"You're disgusting you know that? Can't you settle for guys that won't get put in prison for looking at you?"

"Well that is just no fun my dear," she grinned.

"So…what's gonna happen?" Greg spoke up and she shrugged.

"I don't know."

"What do you want to happen?"

"I don't know," she repeated shaking her head.

*~*~*

"So what do we do now?" Ben asked quietly and Ricky looked up in surprise for the second time that day as a member of the Boykewich family sat across from him.

"I wish I could answer that," he said truthfully.

"If you hurt her in any way Ricky, I swear to God-"

"I know. Give me some credit here," he joked. "I'm not that dumb. As much as I hate to admit it, you are her dad. I'm quite aware of the wrath that could bring."

"Good," he replied as he leaned back.

"So…what's going to happen?" Ricky asked this time.

Ben just shook his head. "I have no fucking clue," he said softly.


	9. Failure's not flattering

Chapter Eight- Failure's not flattering

Ricky stood in front of the house and took a deep breath. Now that they were both aware of each others existence, he wanted to get to know Janie more. For God's sake, she was his daughter after all, it was only fair. He reached out and rang the doorbell and fought the temptation to run away.

"Hi," a male voice said and Ricky looked down to see the boy from the diner that called him an asshole standing before him.

"Hey. I'm Ricky…is Janie here?" he asked and the boy glared at him.

"Who the fuck are you and what do you want with my sister?" he snapped and Ricky's eyes grew huge.

"Excuse me?"

"Ethan!!" Amy yelled as she grabbed him and moved him back. "I'm so sorry about…that," she trailed off when she saw who it was.

"Charming kid you got there Amy," he said rolling his eyes.

"Yeah well you're this older guy that suddenly is coming around looking for his sister, what is he supposed to think?" she shot back as she opened the door nonetheless.

"That I'm not a pedophile?" he joked as he walked by Ethan and the little boy just narrowed his eyes at him.

"So what do you want?" she asked finally as they made their way to the kitchen?"

He arched an eyebrow. "Oh you know, me and your husband are best buddies and we're going bowling today. Why do you think I'm here?"

"Does Jane know you're coming?"

He shook his head. "No. But I thought that we could at least get to know each other you know? She came and talked to me yesterday and since we both know…I mean it's only fair right?"

"Don't talk to me about fair Ricky," she warned as she got some coffee. "If the world was fair then you still wouldn't know about her. But…I guess you have a point. I don't need her to hate me because of you."

"Exactly."

"I wasn't asking you," she pointed out. "Janie!" she yelled and a minute later he heard a door thud and footsteps on the stairs.

"What? Oh…hi…" she said awkwardly as she saw who was in the kitchen with her mother.

"He," Amy said pointing at Ricky, "has something he wants to talk to you about."

"You can say my name you know," he rolled his eyes.

"Saying your name gives me a bad taste in my mouth," Amy snapped as she sat down that table.

"Hey Janie," he said ignoring Amy.

"Hi."

He looked around uncomfortably. He felt like he should take her out, like normal fathers do with their daughters, but then again he wasn't a normal father.

"Umm…so do you want to go out?" he asked feebly.

She shrugged. "Sure, why not?"

"Really?" he asked in a mixture of relief and surprise. That was too easy, wasn't she supposed to put up a fight and not want to go?

"Yeah," she said as she grabbed her purse that was sitting on the table. "Where are we going?"

* * *

An uncomfortable silence filled the car as Ricky drove around town. He had no idea what to say to his person, his own flesh and blood. And she certainly did not what to say to him, after appearing for the first time in her life after he missed most of it.

"So what do I call you?" she finally asked.

"What?"

"Well I mean I know that you're my real father and all that but I just met you, you know?"

"Oh, right. Well…I guess Ricky would work," he shrugged. "What do you call Ben?" he asked curiously.

"Dad," she deadpanned and he flushed as embarrassment swept over him. Of course she called him Dad, he was the only dad that she ever knew.

"So…do you have a boyfriend?" he attempted and she smiled.

"I guess you could call him that. I mean we haven't talked and made it official yet…but I guess so."

"You guess so?" he teased.

"Well we went out and we hold hands but it's not like we've kissed or anything," she opened up a little bit.

"What's his name?"

"Greg," she smiled.

"Well you seem to really like him. I hope he's good to you."

"Ricky, we've only been talking for like two weeks. Chill out," she rolled her eyes. "So what about you and Adrian?"

"What about her?" he asked sharply and Janie sat back against the seat.

"Sorry," she muttered. "You mentioned her the other day…"

He sighed. "Sorry. We…well I guess you could say we dated."

"So what happened?"

"Her and Grace became really good friends and then me and Grace started to like each other," he said simply.

"You went after her best friend? Dude, that is such a low blow!"

"Yeah… So now Adrian hates me but Grace is starting to talk to her again."

"So did Grace know about you and Mom?"

He nodded. "She did. Actually, the whole school knew about that. Grace was really supportive though and she tried to be there for your mother whenever Amy would let her."

"But didn't that make her look differently at you? No offense but if Greg suddenly told me that he had a kid somewhere with some chick, I'd leave him so fast," she commented as she twirled her hair around her finger.

"Grace was never like that. I'm not sure why honestly, but she never was. She always thought that I should have been able to take on more of a role in your life though."

Janie nodded. "So do you two have any kids? Do I have like brothers and sisters?"

"No, but cute kid you got for a brother," he rolled his eyes and she laughed.

"Yeah Ethan's got a mouth on him. He's great though."

"You guys get along?"

"He's like my best friend," she explained.

"Who are your best friends?"

She laughed. " Well Nadine thinks you're a dreamboat and Julie is usually more reserved about things. But I've known them since like first grade and we've always had each others backs."

"Dreamboat huh?" he snickered.

"Yeah but she also likes to tell me that Dad's hot," she rolled her eyes. She grew quiet for a minute. "So…what made you come back?"

"Come back?" he cocked his head and turned into a driveway.

"Well yeah, I mean you obviously moved away from here. So why did you come back? Nostalgia or something?" she asked as she followed him to the front door.

"That was more Grace than me," he admitted and she faltered for a second.

"Oh."

"What was more me?" Grace asked as she appeared in the living room, her face lighting up to see Janie sitting there. "Janie! Hi," she said as she wrapped the girl in a hug.

"Uh…hi," she said awkwardly.

"How are you?" she smiled at her.

"Fine I guess," she shrugged.

"I was telling her that you were the one that said we should move back," Ricky broke in.

"Well after you lost your job we had to go somewhere," she shrugged. "And why not go where we know everything?"

"I would have been happy anywhere as long as I was employed," Ricky joked.

Janie forced a smile on her face and nodded. "How did you lose your job?"

He sighed and grew quiet. "We," he said motioning towards him and Grace, "Got too close to a client of mine and because of that they fired me. Apparently it was something that was frowned upon."

"Too close?" she cocked her head.

"There was a girl that was being abused and I wanted to show her what a real family could feel like," Grace explained. "I invited her over for dinner and we would go out together…I adored that girl."

"Sooner or later people found out and here I am," he said spreading his arms.

Grace smiled at her husband and walked back into the kitchen and Janie looked at him.

"Did you ever…wonder about me?" she asked quietly.

His face grew somber. "Of course I did, but I had no idea where you were. Your mother, if you haven't noticed, hates me so she would never even let me see you when we were in high school together."

"Well maybe if you wanted to help her take care of me in the first place that wouldn't have happened," she shot back.

He sat back and looked at her. "Probably Janie."

She sighed. "I thought for a second that you came here because you knew about me. How stupid is that right?" she laughed bitterly and shook her head. "All I was to you was a mistake that happened at band camp right?"

"Jane," he said in a warning tone but she ignored it.

"Why did you even want to meet me? I was fine without you Ricky!" she hurled his name at him. "Did you grow a conscious or something?"

"So you wanna leave then?" he yelled back, gesturing to the door.

She stared at him. "Great Dad," she hissed at him as she got up and slammed the door shut and he sank back into the chair. He didn't mean to yell at her but she was sitting there hurling accusations at him!

"Honey?" Grace stuck her head back into the room. "What just happened?" she asked in a worried tone.

"My daughter hates me," he said in a tired tone.

"I'm sure she doesn't hate you," his wife comforted him. "She just doesn't know you."

"I don't think she wants to," he replied as he put an arm around her waist.

* * *

"Why hello," Greg smiled into the phone.

"Are you busy?"

He sat up when he heard the tears in her voice. "What's wrong?"

"I'm sorry, I didn't know who else to call," she started.

"Janie, what's going on?" he asked again as he stood up and grabbed his keys. "Do you need me to come get you?"

She nodded and then realized that he couldn't see her. "Yeah," she whispered.

Ten minutes later a yellow car stopped in front of her and she opened the door and got in.

"What happened?" he immediately asked.

She shrugged. "Nothing. Ricky tried to hang out with me today and well…this is how it ended."

"Did he say something?"

"More like he didn't say something," she sighed. "I thought that he came back because he knew about me you know? That he wanted to see his child. Apparently it was his wife's decision to come back and he didn't even think about me at all."

"What do you mean didn't think about you at all?" he scrunched up his eyes.

"I asked him if he ever wondered about me and he said yes but didn't know where I was. I'm sorry but he could have more effort into looking for me. If I had a kid somewhere out there, I wouldn't rest until I found them."

"Not everyone's like that babe," he said quietly.

She rolled her eyes. "Why did he even come over today? God," she sighed.

"Do you wanna go home?"

She shook her head. "No. Mom knows I'm out with him and if I show up suddenly she'd think something was wrong and I don't want to have to listen to that crap you know?"

He nodded. "Ok, so where to?"

She shrugged. "I didn't get that far," she apologized.

He smiled at her. "Don't apologize for something you didn't do."

"Thank you again for doing this Greg. I didn't know who else to call and-"

"Hey, it's no problem," he reassured her. "I mean…you are kinda my girlfriend and all that aren't you?" he teased her and she grew red.

"God I'm sorry about the other day at lunch-"

"What?" he interrupted her, confused.

"When I grabbed your hand," she said slowly and he started laughing.

"You think that bothered me? Why would that bother me?"

She shrugged feeling self-conscious. "I don't know. I mean we never really…talked about what we were. If anything," she added quickly.

He paused as they stopped at red light and he tucked some stray hair behind his ear as he leaned over to her side.

"Wha-"

She couldn't get her sentence out as he gently pressed his lips to hers. "I forgot to do that the other night," he said quietly.

"It's alright," she said flustered as he kissed her again.

"The light," she breathed as she saw it turn green.

"So what? There's no behind me," he smirked. "By the way, you're cute when you're all red," he said as he pulled her hair gently and she moaned and put her face in her hands. "But seriously," he continued, "I never really thought about a title or some shit like that. I just figured that we went out, we both obviously liked it and I'm planning on doing it again soon. And as soon as I park this car, I'm probably going to maim you," he said as an afterthought and she burst out into laughter.

"Maim me?"

He nodded with a smirk. "I have to mark what's mine right?"

She glanced at him with a little smile playing on her lips. "Wait…so does that mean that I'm yours then?"

He sighed. "You, Janie Boykewich, ask entirely too many questions," he said as he parked the car in front of a house and leaned over and kissed her again, deeper this time.

* * *

"How's Janie doin?" Ricky asked the next morning in the parking lot.

"Didn't you just spend all of yesterday with her?" Ben rose an eyebrow. "I'm pretty sure she didn't change overnight," he laughed.

"She didn't tell you?"

Ben stood up to full height, expecting the worst. "Tell me what?"

"She left after we got back to my house. We…kind of had a fight."

"What do you mean she left?" Ben crossed his arms.

"She didn't go home?" he asked and Ben shook his head.

"She came home at like six or seven. What time did she leave?"

Ricky shrugged. "I wasn't exactly looking at a clock."

"Whatever," he muttered as he turned to walk away.

"You're not even concerned about where she was?" Ricky asked in amazement.

Ben turned back around. "She's a big girl Ricky, she can handle herself. She wasn't out robbing places and we trust her. So…no. I'm not really worried about where she went. By the way, what was the fight about?"

"None of your business," he bristled.

"If it involves my daughter, then it is my business," Ben shot back.

Ricky narrowed his eyes and went for the cheap shot. "Last time I checked, she was my daughter, not yours," he smirked.

"Really? Because I'm pretty sure I adopted when your ass ran out!" he yelled.

"Well it's not my fault you like my leftovers," Ricky replied after a minute with a superior tone in his voice.

"Boys!!" Adrian jumped in between the two men that were looking at each other like they wanted to cause physical damage to the other. "There is a time and place and right here, in front of everyone, isn't it!" she said as she pushed Ricky away from Ben.

"We'll finish this later," Ricky said as he walked away.

"Fantastic," Ben grumbled.

Adrian glared at him. "What is wrong with you?!" she slapped him upside the head.

"Ow!!" he ducked, rubbing where she smacked him. "What the hell was that for?!"

"Can you grow up? Why the hell are you two acting like teenagers and fighting? And let's face it, Ricky would kick your ass Benjamin because you, are not a fighter. Or a lover," she cut him off as he opened his mouth and then he shut it again.

"I need a new tagline for that," he mumbled and she rolled her eyes. "What am I supposed to do Adrian? This guy got into a fight with my daughter and then tells me I'm a bad father because I don't know where she went! And then…" he paused as he let anger recede a little bit, "He called Amy his leftovers," her said lowly and the woman next to him sighed.

"Well Ricky's not exactly smart when it comes to talking to people Ben. You are though, you're like the geekiest guy I know."

"Is that a compliment?" he looked at her.

"Take it how you want," she said as she waved a hand. "Janie is your daughter, not some girl that you both like in high school ok? Stop treating her like it," she snapped. "Be a man and be a father and stop getting into piss ass fights with Ricky Underwood."

"Adrian-"

"You are not that tough Ben," she said softer this time. "Unless something seriously wrong happened to her, we both know that you can't hurt him. Just give it up and leave it up to her. What are you so afraid of?"

He sighed and hung his head as they walked inside.

* * *

"Isn't that your dad?" Julie pointed to the two men yelling at each other in the parking lot.

"Oh my God," she muttered.

"Isn't that…Ricky and your dad?" Greg asked.

Great. Her father and this…guy were going to act like high school students and scream at each other in the middle of a parking lot. They were out to ruin her life.

"Looks like someone has more men in her life than she can handle," Nadine's voice came from behind them and Janie started.

"What?" she asked as she turned around.

She laughed. "Nothing. It was just a joke Janie, God," she said as she rolled her eyes.

"Yeah well you don't even know what's going on. So shut it."

"You're not the only with family issues you know," she said as he brushed past her. "You were just too wrapped up in yourself and your new boyfriend to ask about anyone else."

"Dina!" Julie admonished but Nadine kept walking away.

"What the fuck was that?!" Janie yelled and Julie shrugged.

"For the record, I've never felt that way."

"What drama could she possibly have? Her parents have been happily married forever!"

"Maybe they're getting a divorce?" Greg asked and Janie laughed.

"Her parents are straight out of 'The Brady Bunch', please."

"She's right. Her parents have like never fought and she's an only child. Maybe she's just jealous or whatever."

"Of what? The fact that two grown men are about to kill each other and they somehow both belong to me? She can take it," she said angrily as she started to walk away.

* * *

"Nadine, what is wrong with you?" Julie cornered her at her locker later that morning.

"What?"

"You totally spazzed this morning!"

She shrugged. "Well maybe if she wasn't so wrapped in her world then-"

"Don't give me that family drama crap Nadine. We all know that you live with the Brady's."

Her friend grew quiet. "She doesn't deserve him."

Julie's eyes grew wide. "I'm sorry, what?"

"She doesn't deserve him!" she repeated louder.

"Who?!"

"Santa Clause. Who do you think?" she glared at her friend.

"I really hope you're not talking about Ricky…"

"Greg!"

"Ok, what?"

"She thinks that she can dress like that for one day and just have this guy fall all over her. He'll find out what she's really about and leave her."

"Slow down here," Julie put up her hands. "Do you like him or something? Because it totally sounds like you do."

Nadine looked at the floor without saying anything.

"Are you serious?!" Julie squeaked out. "How could you like him!!?"

"Oh please! I liked him last year too when she was wrapped around Riley's finger. It just figures that she would get the guy. She gets everything," she muttered.

"You have to be kidding me Dina. You're the one that gets everything! You get all the guys, you get the good clothes, the spotlight, the humor…you get it all. We're just your little sidekicks," Julie said softly as she walked away.


	10. Two Months Later

Chapter Nine- Two months later

"It is so cold!!" Janie complained as she huddled up to Greg and they left the house.

"You've been outside for like two seconds," he said amused.

"And those two seconds have been freezing," she retorted.

It had been two months since Janie and Ricky had their big fight. Two months since Julie told Nadine what was up and since then, she distanced herself from them and stopped hanging around them. Two months since Janie and Greg started dating and two weeks since she realized that she loved him. Ricky had stopped trying to talk to Janie after their big blowout, figuring that he caused more harm than good in her life and she was content to leave him alone. Grace still came around since she was friends with Amy and she and Janie got along pleasantly but Janie could tell that a part of Grace was pained and she knew it was because of her.

"Are you going to stand there all day or get in the car?"

She shook her head and looked to see her boyfriend sitting in the drivers seat and looking up at her.

"Sorry…" she mumbled apologetically and got in as they drove to school.

"So Mom wants to know if you're coming over for Christmas," he said casually.

"What?"

His mother had never really taken an interest in her before and God knows that Hailey likes to make little remarks about her whenever she's around.

"She just asked me out of the blue last night," he shrugged.

"Doesn't your mother hate me or something?"

"She doesn't hate you," he sighed. "She just…never really cared."

"And that is so much better," she rolled her eyes. "Am I wanted over there?"

He rose an eyebrow. "You are always wanted."

"You're such a pig," she laughed.

"At least I'm honest," he grinned. "And she actually said your name as opposed to just 'your girlfriend' so I think she might be warming up to you."

"Hurrah," she stuck her hands in the air. "Hailey's a lost cause though, sorry. Once a slut, always a slut."

He shrugged. "Do you see me arguing? One thing though…I think Riley's gonna be there too."

She closed her eyes and sighed. As if it wasn't bad enough to see them around school together making out in every hallway, now she had to sit there and play nice with them? Ugh.

"Terrific," she mumbled as he pulled into school.

"Come on, it won't be that bad," he said as he pulled her out of the car.

"He didn't cheat on you," she replied darkly as he sighed.

"Remember that I'm staying late today," he said as they entered the building.

"Yeah I know, you're forsaking me because of English. I'm crushed," she joked as he kissed her.

"I know. God what will you do to get home? I mean after all, it's a mile away and just so far," he joked as she swatted at him.

"You're cuter when you don't talk," she smiled.

"Finally, we agree!" he joked again as he leaned in and kissed her before going into his classroom.

"Seriously, you guys make me gag sometimes," Julie said as Janie plopped down beside her in Algebra.

"What?"

"You and Greg seriously need to stop loving each other. It makes everyone else look bad."

Janie just smirked and rolled her eyes.

* * *

"There's a colorful thing on my desk Benjamin."

He smiled at his friend as he looked up. "I believe it's called a gift Adrian."

"Well…take it back."

"No," he said simply and she stared at him.

"I mean it Boykewich, take it back!"

He crossed his arms and looked at her amused. "Why?"

"Because whatever came from that little perfect family you have, is just…" she sighed. "I just can't take it."

"Adrian."

She shook her head. "You wouldn't understand Ben ok? So just…take it back," she said as she left his door. It had been a repressed memory for her; well at least repressed until every Christmas that is.

She sat looking that clock, willing it to change. He said he would be here. But he was late, as usual. Finally she sighed and got her car keys as she slammed the door shut behind her. So he wouldn't go to her? That was fine, she would find him. Ricky Underwood had broken one too many promises to her and this was the end. She slowed her car down as she got to his house and saw the house was dark and his car was absent in the driveway. Where was he? Obviously not on the way to her house; she had been sitting there for the past two hours all by herself. She sighed as she rolled her eyes. She had enough of sitting in the empty apartment for the holiday and decided to go to Grace's and endure the happy family setting for a little bit. Grace Bowmann was her only real girlfriend…hell her only real friend. She had people she talked to, sure, but only Grace knew things like her dad didn't want her. She was in the car with her when he all but said that to her.

_"Ricky?" she asked in disbelief as she saw him coming out of her house._

_"Adrian! I was just-"_

_"Standing me up. Again," she said as she shot a dirty look at Grace, who looked surprised._

_"Did you two have plans?" _

_"Oh shut up Grace. You knew that he did, I told you."_

_"Hey!" Ricky cut in but Adrian glared at him._

_"I will smack the shit out of you so shut the fuck up," she spat at him before turning back to her supposed friend._

_"He told me that you cancelled your plans with him Adrian. Honestly, I had no idea that you were waiting for him!"_

_Adrian sighed. She had to believe Grace, the girl didn't exactly know how to lie._

_"You," she sneered as she turned to Ricky. Now him on the other hand, he was a very good liar. "I cancelled our plans huh?" she crossed her arms as he stayed silent. "Is that why I was sitting at home for the past two hours waiting for you to show up!?!" she ended in a yell as she smacked his arm._

_"I was going to tell you-"_

_"Tell me what? That you were with my friend instead? How long has this been going on Ricky?"_

_"We aren't dating or anything Adrian," Grace put in as an attempt to save Ricky._

_"I don't really care Grace. It's Christmas Ricky. It's Christmas and you told me that you would be there," she said softly. "My mother has been stuck on business for the past week and you knew that I was upset and you chose to stand me up? On fucking Christmas??" she asked in a hard voice to hide the hurt that was seeping into her every pore._

_"Please don't swear when you're talking about Jesus," Grace piped up in a tight, squeaky voice._

_Adrian said nothing, just pursed her lips and then stared at the man in front of her._

_"Was it worth it?" she asked finally._

_"What are you talking about?" he replied._

_"You knew damn well I was sitting at home, waiting for you. Like I always do," she said as an afterthought._

_"Why? So we could mess around? That's all we do Adrian," he casually said to her and she reeled back like she was slapped._

_That was all they did? Physically yes, but she depended on him far more than he knew apparently. He was there for her when no one else was, not even her mother. He picked her up when she fell, even when she fell because of him, and he was standing in front of her saying that all he did was fuck her._

_"What I have with Grace, it's more than that," he said quietly._

_"What you have with Grace," she repeated slowly and softly. "What exactly do you have with Grace?"_

_"We don't have anything," Grace said quickly as she looked at Ricky. "What are you talking about? We're just friends."_

_He shook his head. "Grace, you know that I like you."_

_"What?" her eyes grew wide in surprise and Adrian snorted._

_"Oh my God, it's just like so perfect," she mocked as she stalked off the porch._

_"Adrian wait!" Grace called._

_"Don't talk to me Grace. Whatever friendship we had, just ended. I hope you're happy," she whispered as she got into her car and drove off, a few tears escaping her eyes._

_She got home and slammed the door as hard as she could. Maybe, if she was lucky, she was breaking up someone's happy Christmas night. She threw her keys on the counter and stood next to them for a second, unsure of what to do. She was too angry to just sit and watch tv mindlessly or go to bed or anything. And she was too hurt to do anything else besides those two._

_"Adrian, is that you?" a woman's voice called out and she stood up straight._

_"Hello?" she called back cautiously._

_"Hi baby!" her mother grinned as she came into the living room._

_"Mom! What are you doing here?" she asked in surprise. "I thought you were stuck on business somewhere."_

_She nodded. "I was but I was able to get home yesterday. I stayed at a friends house so I could surprise you today. I thought you could get a Christmas surprise!"_

_The smiled dropped off Adrian's face. "It still would have been a Christmas surprise on Christmas Eve."_

_"Oh honey, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you," she said as she went to hug her daughter but Adrian turned away from her._

_"Whatever Mom. You didn't hurt me. I'm fine," she muttered as she walked towards her room._

_"Oh and I have some news," her mother called back in a tone that was cautious and Adrian stopped. She didn't know how much more she could take tonight._

_"I got a promotion."_

_"Ok…"_

_"Instead of doing American flights, I'll also…be going international," she said slowly._

_"So you'll just be gone more often?" Adrian asked in a blank tone._

_"Not by much-"_

_"Fine," she said as she continued on to her room._

_"But I'll be earning more now! So it should be easier for you here," she said trying to get back into Adrian's good graces._

_"It's called a promotion Mom. I kind of figured that one out on my own," she said as she shut the door._

_Her mother was going to be out of the country now, fantastic. As if she wasn't home enough already, half the time Adrian felt like she was emaciated anyway. _

_"Merry Christmas," she whispered to herself as she let the tears slowly take over her again.

* * *

  
_

"So do we do cards now or later?" Ricky asked as he held one out to her.

She glared at him. "I thought we weren't talking."

He sighed. "Janie, I do want to be a part of your life ok? I'm sorry about that fight that we had-"

"You mean the one where you said you didn't care about me?" she feigned innocence.

"Can we just put all that behind us? Start new? It's Christmas," he said spreading his arms wide.

"I noticed," was her reply and he sighed. "Look Ricky I'm sorry but I don't know if I can just start fresh with you, you know? I mean I know that you're my actual father and apparently my dad…isn't. That isn't like a normal relationship."

He nodded. "I know. I'm hoping…to maybe make up for some lost time too…" he said quietly.

"I'll have to think about it," she said as she started to walk away.

"Will you at least take the card? It's from me and Grace."

She shrugged. "Then have Grace give it to me."

His mouth dropped slightly as she walked away. Did his own daughter actually just tell him to fuck off in a way? Well there was no doubt about that, she was his.

* * *

"Janie!" Julie yelled out as she raced towards her, waving her arms.

"Is there a fire?" she joked out as her friend arrived.

She grinned. "No! But I do have a Christmas present for someone…" she giggled as Janie's face lit up.

"I have yours too, it's just…somewhere in this mess," she said as she started going through her bag that was stuffed with papers from her locker.

She put her bag down on the median and started going through it as Julie warmed up her hands. Out of the corner of her eye she saw a car skid out on a patch of ice and two seconds later she realized that it was headed for her friend.

"Janie!"

"Hang on," she grunted as she tugged on the papers.

"Watch-" was all she could yell out as she closed her eyes as the car made contact.

"Janie!!!" she screamed as she ran over to her as the car stopped.

"Oh my God, I have no idea what happened! I'm so sorry, I just lost control," the boy was babbling.

"Janie," Julie sat down on the ground and picked her head gently up and placed it in her lap. "Hun are you ok?" she asked her friends eyelids slowly started to flutter.

"My leg," she gasped. "I can't feel my leg," she whispered.

The boy and Julie looked down and saw that her leg was bent at an odd angle and there was blood on it.

Julie looked around at the crowd that was gathering. "You," she said pointing to a random girl. "Go get Mr. Boykewich." The girl nodded as she ran into the school. "You," she continued pointing at a boy. "Go find Greg Bush and tell him that Janie's been hit by a car."

"Who?" the kid asked but his friend tugged on his arm and they left together.

"What happened? Why can't I feel anything?" Janie asked as panic started to seep into her voice.

"Janie!!!"

Julie looked up to see Ricky running towards them. "What happened?"

"He skidded out and hit her. I think her leg is broken or something," she tried to answer as calmly as she could.

"Let's get her in my car," he said as he opened the door.

"Ben's coming-"

"Julie, I'm her father. I can do this too ok?" he said firmly and she shut up as the crowd started to buzz as soon as he said that.

Suddenly Greg pushed his way through the crowd and fell next to his girlfriend on the ground.

"Who are you?" Ricky asked.

"I'm her boyfriend," he said without looking at him.

"Ok good. Help me put her in the backseat and then come with me. Julie, you stay here and wait for Ben and tell him what happened ok? We'll meet you guys at the hospital," he said as he sped off out of the parking lot.

"Julie!!"

Ben and Adrian both came running and she sighed.

"Ricky grabbed her and Greg and they're on the way to the hospital," she said growing tired. She just wanted to be there already and find out what happened to her friend.

"What happened?"

"Mr. Boykewich, I'm so sorry," the owner of the car that hit started crying. "I hit some ice and I lost control and…I'm sorry!"

"It's ok Nathan," Adrian said, taking over as she put her arm around his shoulder. "It was an accident and she'll be fine. She wasn't dead or anything right?"

"Right," he sniffed.

"Ok guys, shows over!" he yelled to the crowd. "Julie, do you want to ride with me?"

She nodded and he looked at Adrian. "I'll meet you and Amy there ok?"

* * *

"Ricky!!"

He turned around as he heard Amy yelling his name and he braced himself for the worst but instead was surprised as she threw her arms around him. "Thank you," she said as she cried.

He shrugged. "It's fine Amy," he said as he hugged her back. "I'm sure Ben was right behind me anyway."

"You didn't have to take her, that's the point," she said as she pulled away from him. "So thank you."

He bristled a little bit. "She's my daughter Amy, what did you think I was going to do? Let her sit there on the cold pavement with a broken leg?"

"How bad is it?" Julie asked.

Ricky turned to look at her. "She definitely broke it and they said that the blood was there because the bone actually popped out of her leg."

"Gross," she breathed.

"The doctor said you can go in if you want, Greg is in there now so I figured I'd let them have some privacy. He's a good kid," he said looking at Amy and Ben again.

She nodded. "Yeah he is," she smiled at him as she saw the boy holding her daughters hand and gently pushing the hair out of her face.

He looked up to see her standing there and smiled at her. "Hey Amy. Sorry, I'll let you two be," he went to get up.

She shook her head. "No, you can stay," she said and he sat back down, nodding his thanks.

"Hi Mom," she groaned. "God I can't believe I got hit by a car right before Christmas," she rolled her eyes.

"Would March have been better?" she asked.

"No, it's just that now Christmas is going to suck," she sighed.

"It'll be fine sweetheart," she said.

"Oh yeah, everyone else will be going out places and I'm stuck with a stovepipe for a leg," she huffed.

"But I bet that you'll be the only one that got hit by a car," Greg broke in. "I mean no one else did that over their vacation I bet."

She glared at him and he held up his hands. "Joke, joke!"

"What happened anyway?" Amy asked.

Janie sighed. "I was trying to get Julie's present out of my bag and she yelled at me to watch out, I think and then all the sudden I was on the ground and lying in her lap and I couldn't feel my leg. Did…did Ricky bring me here?"

Amy nodded.

"Oh crap. This means that he's not that horrible huh?" she sighed and Amy laughed.

"You can take it how you want it but he could have left you out there for a few more minutes before your father got there," Amy agreed.

"Ugh, send him in," she said as Greg and her mother got up to leave.

"Hey," he said somewhat awkwardly as he walked in.

"Hi," she replied in the same tone. "Look," she sighed. "I know that I was out of line for what I said to you today, and you do deserve to at least know me I guess."

He smiled a little bit. "Well don't sound so thrilled," he joked.

"I just think we need to leave certain things alone," she said and he nodded.

"Like how I'm just now appearing?"

"Exactly."

He nodded. "I wish I knew you your whole life Janie, I really do. It's not your mothers fault that she kept you from me and I understand why she did. But that was the past and I'm not that asshole sixteen year old anymore. I really do want to try this with you, you know?"

She nodded and let out a breath she was holding. "Ok. We can try it."

"I feel like we just agreed to go on a date," Ricky joked and she squealed.

"That's so gross!!!!" she laughed.


	11. Christmas Truths

Chapter ten- Christmas Truths

"I'm not an invalid you know," Janie snapped at her boyfriend.

He rolled his eyes as he helped her out of his car. "Fine, walk up the stairs."

She snorted at him and hopped to the stairs on her crutches and placed on foot on them and swung out her other leg to get it over the rise in terrain.

"Oh and do it so that you don't look like a freak," he smirked and she let out an audible huff. "Not so easy is it?" he asked as he came up beside and ran up the few steps.

"Sure, just leave me out to freeze!" she said loudly as he opened his door.

He stopped to look at her. "I might if you don't shut up. Janie, have I ever left you anywhere?"

"Uhh… yeah you have. The McDonalds? I came out of the bathroom and you were gone! I had to call you to come back and get me!"

"On purpose?"

She raised an eyebrow.

"For the sixth time, that was an accident!!" he threw his hands up in the air. "Now either ask me for help or hobble your ass into my house," he said as he crossed his arms.

"Well I want to be inside before dawn tomorrow….so fine. Could you please help me?"

He grinned. "I hope that hurt."

"I should join cross country," she said suddenly and he started laughing.

"Yes you and running are best friends."

"But then I could throw things at you and it would hit. Like my crutches," she cocked her head and kissed him lightly on his lips.

"Honey, I don't care how many javelins you throw, your aim is going to suck for the rest of your life."

"Thanks for your vote of confidence!" she pouted as he shut the door behind her.

"Gregory? Is that you?" his mothers voice wafted out of the kitchen area.

"She does know that you brought me here right? Is she going to refer to me by name tonight?" she asked.

"I think so," he shrugged. "But if not, then I'll kick you in your good leg and we can use that an excuse to go."

"I think one gimp leg is good enough," she nodded.

* * *

"So Janie, how are you feeling?" Greg's mom asked her.

She shrugged and shifted slightly. "Ok I guess. I mean it's hard to get around and all that. And I feel so bad," she gestured to the amount of space she was taking up.

"Forget about it," she smiled at the girl. "Now I know we didn't get off to the right start-"

"Mom, you refused to call her by her name. That's a little more than a rough start," Greg rolled his eyes but she ignored him.

"But I hope that you can put all that behind us. My son has had less then admirable taste in women in the past," she said lowly.

"Still here," he muttered. "Hey Mom, why isn't Hailey being subjected to this?"

Janie tensed up at the mention of his sister.

"She'll be here in a few minutes, she went to go pick up Riley."

They sat in awkward silence for a few minutes until a car door was heard. "Oh good," Mrs. Bush smiled and Janie tried to make herself smaller.

"Riley! How are you?" Mrs. Bush trilled out as she embraced the boy. "I haven't seen you in forever."

"Hi Megan. How are you?" he kissed her cheek and handed her a wrapped box.

"What?" Janie lightly hit her boyfriend's leg. "I didn't bring her anything!"

"So?" he arched an eyebrow.

She gestured toward her ex and he rolled his eyes. "Riley is the biggest ass kisser that we have in this town, you're seriously worried about it?"

"Greg," Riley appeared and nodded in his direction but he remained aloof. "Hi Janie," he said softly to the girl and she tried to smile at him.

"Oh right, Jamie, I forgot you were coming," Hailey said dismissively as she sat down next to her brother.

"How've you been?" Riley tried again.

"Well I just finished my tour in Vegas and I start again next week in Miami," she quipped and Hailey stared at her.

"I don't get it."

"Her leg is in a cast Hailey. It's pretty obvious how she's doing," Greg said with a hint of distaste in his tone.

"Then why didn't she just say it?"

"I…I was trying to be funny," Janie said lamely.

"Uh-huh," Hailey said slowly and turned her attention to her boyfriend.

"Kids! Dinner's ready!" their mother called and the two siblings stopped and looked at each other.

"She started drinking yet?" Hailey asked softly.

"Don't think so. But she is happy…"

"Umm guys? It's Christmas, of course she's happy," Janie broke in and Hailey stared at her.

"Don't pretend you know my family ok?" she snapped as she walked out of the room.

Greg sighed. "Christmas is kind of hard for us sometimes. Mom usually ends up falling asleep drunk by about six and dinner is take out."

"On Christmas?" Janie asked incredulously.

"Well not everyone can have the sunshiney family like you do," he shrugged. "My dad left in December so the entire month just goes directly into the shitter."

"Wow…"

"Yeah. I don't remember what day he left but apparently it took all 31," he sighed as he helped her up and into the dining room.

"Mom," he said startled. "You…cooked?"

"What's wrong with that?" she asked with a grin.

"The house is still standing," Hailey piped up.

Janie leaned over to Greg and said softly in his ear, "I saw the supermarket boxes outside, she ordered it."

"Explains a lot," he smiled at her and kissed her head as he sat down next to her.

"Now I forget, how do you all know each other?" Mrs. Bush asked as she passed around the mashed potatoes.

The four teenagers faltered for a minute before Riley picked them up again. "We all go to the same school."

"Besides that," she waved him off.

"Umm, Riley and I used…to be good friends," she said after a minute and Hailey rolled her eyes.

"Oh that's so sad that you had a falling out. Well the holidays are all about reuniting friendships!" she said with glee and her children looked at her like she had a third head.

"Ah, actually they used to date Mom," Greg said after a minute. "You knew that."

"They did?" she looked confused.

"What are you doing?" Janie hissed and he shrugged.

Riley cleared his throat. "Uh yeah, right before I started dating Hailey."

"That was a while ago then," she replied and Janie coughed on her drink.

"Excuse me?"

"Well they've been dating for what five months now? Is that right honey?" she asked looking at Hailey who nodded and shrugged.

"Really?" she asked in a tight voice as she looked at her ex boyfriend. "That long huh?"

"Janie," he said softly.

"Whatever," she said holding up a hand. "I don't care anymore. Whatever you did in the past behind my back, stays there."

"Last time I checked you knew about it," Hailey started and Greg kicked under the table.

"What? She did!"

"Because your brother showed me!" Janie shot back.

"Am…I missing something here?" Mrs. Bush asked feebly.

Hailey sighed. "They were kind of dating when I met Riley and started talking to him and she's upset about it."

"To be fair, what you call talking, most call making out," Janie cut in with a smile.

"Hailey Elizabeth! Did you steal this poor girls boyfriend!?" her mother asked in shock.

"Mom, you knew this," Greg said with his face in his hand. "You knew all about this."

"I did not!"

"Then you forgot. Like you usually do. Me and her were fighting loud enough that even the neighbors knew all about it!"

"Why were you upset?" she asked confused.

"Because I liked her!" he yelled and pointed at Janie.

She stayed quiet for a minute. "Gregory I really don't like how you're talking to me right now," she said quietly and he sighed.

"Mom-"

"It's rude and we have guests."

Janie placed her napkin on the table. "I'll make it easy for you Mrs. Bush. Your daughter has my sloppy seconds. Now if you'll excuse me," she said as she tried to get up.

"It's hard to have sloppy seconds when someone's an uptight prude," Hailey said under her breath and Janie cut a sharp look at her.

"You know what, we'll just go," Greg said as he hopped up and gently grabbed his girlfriend and steered her towards the door.

"You're being rude!" Hailey yelled at him.

"I'm sorry, are you talking?" he cocked an eyebrow. "Didn't think so."

He shut the door and Janie let out the breath she was holding.

"Yeah, I told you; making you have two gimp legs would have worked."

"Wow," was all she could say. "Did your mother really know all about it?"

He shrugged. "Like I said, me and Hales would fight about it. Loudly. A lot. I'd be surprised if she didn't know all about it. Look, I'm sorry Janie. That dinner was all fucked up and it's Christmas…" he sighed.

"Come with me," she smiled.

"Where?"

"Ricky's," she said slowly.

He stopped halfway around the car. "What?"

She nodded. "I told him that I'd go over there today. No presents or anything, just to hang out."

"Well you don't need me there then," he said after a minute.

"Uhhh, yeah I do," she laughed. "When I'm talking non stop like an idiot, who else knows how to shut me up? Besides, you're important to me," she said softly.

"Am I?" he joked as he kissed her softly.

She pulled away and looked at him after a second. "What?" he asked softly.

She shook her head. "I can't do this…"

He sat back in his seat, stunned. "Wow. Uhhh…ok…" he said hoarsely as he scratched his head. "Just like that huh?"

"Oh God no!!" she yelled out. "No, no, no! I just meant I have to say this and I don't know how," she said.

He cut a doubtful glance at her. "Really?"

She grabbed his hand. "I swear."

"Then what's so hard to say?" he asked skeptically.

She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. "That Ricky better get used to you. Because I love you," she said softly.

He blinked as if he hadn't heard her correctly. "What?" he asked softly.

"Please don't make me say it again," she pleaded finally opening her eyes.

He looked at her and she sighed. "I said…I love you," she said lamely.

He smiled slightly. "Good."

She raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"Good. I hate those one sided relationships."

She narrowed her eyes at him. "Can you just say what you mean?"

"That's no fun though," he grinned.

"Really? You really wanna piss me off on Christmas night?" she crossed her arms.

"Depends. Do we get to have the hot make up sex if I tell you I love you too?"

"Psh! Just because you say…" she trailed off. "Do you?"

He tugged her hair. "Now who's dumb?" he smirked at her and she hit his arm.

* * *

"The front door is nice."

"Well, we came and now we can go," Janie joked as she looked at her boyfriend.

He gave her a look. "Yeah, ok," he said as he got out of the car.

"This is not going home!" she yelled to him as she crossed her arms.

"Well then close your eyes really tight," he said as she got out of the car and glared at him. "Why did you agree to come if you don't wanna be here?"

"Because it's the right thing to do," she sighed.

"Who said?"

She shrugged. "Well he is my father you know? And he did take me to the hospital when he didn't have to."

"Give the guy a medal then!" Greg said loudly as he clapped his hands a few times. "If you don't want to be here, then fuck it. Let's just leave. You don't have to know this guy at all. Your father is Ben; we both know that."

She shook her head. "No I thought he was," she said softly. "Besides, I told him that I'd come."

"Whatever," Greg shook his head as he rang the bell.

"Janie!" Grace smiled as she opened the door. "Hi Greg," she added when she saw him there. "How are you?" she hugged them both.

"…Fine," Janie smiled tightly.

The next hour or so involved awkward conversation between the foursome and Janie was counting the minutes until they could leave. They covered topics from school, possible majors in college, tv shows, music, movies and they had finally reached the pinnacle of awkwardness.

"I have something to say," Grace said suddenly with a large smile. "I'm pregnant!" she yelled.

Ricky just looked at her without saying anything. "Grace," he sighed.

"No, I really am," she protested. "I took the test yesterday. I took three of them. All of them gave me the pink line or whatever it was."

"How?" Ricky stumbled over the word.

She shrugged. "One of God's little miracles I guess," she grinned. "I told you that if we trusted in Him then he would provide," and Janie could feel Greg twitch beside her.

Ricky blinked a few times. "Wow. So…we're having a baby?"

She nodded and he shook his head. "We're having a baby!" he repeated, this time louder with happiness.

"We're having a baby!" she yelled back at him and he picked her up and swung her around.

Greg looked at Janie and nudged her. "The safe word is pineapple."

She just blinked at him.

"If you wanna get out of her. The safe word is pineapple."

"Because that's not an awkward word," she hissed at him.

"I figure it should be. That way when you use it, it means that you really can't take another second of this," he smirked and she rolled her eyes.

"So looks like you're gonna be a big sister again," Grace broke up their conversation.

"Yeah," she nodded slowly. "Congratulations by the way."

"Thanks! I mean the doctors all said it was impossible but I believed you know? That's what people need to do," she said earnestly.

"Hey honey," Greg broke in suddenly. "Didn't your mom say she wanted you back early tonight?"

She looked at him with the hint of a smile playing around her mouth.

"Something about a special pineapple cake thing," he shrugged his shoulders.

Her eyes crinkled in silent laughter but she kept a straight face. "Uh, I think so. Ricky, Grace I'm sorry," she turned to the pair who stood up and nodded.

"It's ok Janie," Grace said with a smile. "I'll probably see you later anyway; I'm gonna tell everyone!"

Ricky just laughed and stuck an arm around his wife. "Thanks Janie, for coming over today. I know it wasn't exactly comfortable."

She waved him off. "It was fine, we had fun."

"We talked about college majors Janie," Ricky said lowly. "That's about number 500 on the list of twenty good conversation topics to have."

She laughed. "Ok so it was a little…awkward."

"It will get better," he reassured her.

She hesitated but nodded after a minute. "I know."

"I can't believe you cracked first!" she cackled when they got the car.

"Come on, she got all Jesus huggy," he whined.

"Jesus huggy?" she raised an eyebrow.

He sighed. "You know, hug Jesus, the world is a great place, all you need is peace and that type of bullshit."

"Pineapple upside down cake?"

"Shut up!" he retorted as he drove her to her house.

* * *

"Amy?"

"Adrian! Hey, how are you?" she smiled.

"Umm, could you come over?" she asked softly.

"Are you ok?"

She nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine. I just…need a friend," she said softly.

"Ok. Yeah I'll be right there," she said as she hung up the phone.

"How is Ms. Doom and Gloom?" Ben asked as Amy hung up the phone.

"She asked me to go over there for something," she said as she got her purse.

"What? The kids haven't been home yet today!" he whined.

"Well just hold them hostage until I get back," she replied. "And no gift opening!"

"Amy!!" he yelled and she kissed his cheek.

"Thanks hun," she said as she ran out the door.

"Adrian?" Amy opened the door slowly and found the other woman sitting on the couch in her pajamas.

"Hi," she said weakly.

"What's going on?" she asked in concern as she sat down.

Adrian shook her head. "It's not fair Amy. It's just not fair."

"What?" she asked as she started to softly rub her friends back.

"Ricky! We were both doing fine without him you know? Now he shows up out of the blue and fucks up your family and makes me think about shit that I haven't thought of in years!" she exclaimed as she sniffed through her tears.

"Well," Amy shrugged. "I don't know what to say here Adrian. We both know how I feel about him but I would have been far too lucky if he never showed up once in Janie's life."

"You know why I hate Christmas?" Adrian looked at her.

"Your mom with the promotion," Amy nodded.

"That's not the whole story Amy," she said bitterly. "I was waiting for him that night. I was waiting for him to show up, like he said he would and he never did. You know why? Because he was with her. He was with Grace when he said he would be with me. That's the night I found out that he liked her, that he said all we did was fuck. I thought I loved him Amy, I really did," she said softly. "How stupid is that?"

"Not that stupid," Amy comforted the woman as she played with her hair. "At least you didn't have a kid with the bastard," she joked.

"I depended on him you know? He made me feel safe and I told him things that I had never told anyone else. And he just threw it back in my face saying that all we had was a physical connection. Bullshit!"

"Adrian when did this happen?"

She shrugged. "I don't know, like fourteen years ago or something."

"Exactly. Don't let him bother you like this. You're letting him win," she whispered. "I think, if you want Ricky to see that he fucked up, you should make it seem like he doesn't bother you."

"I can't do that anymore Amy," she laughed bitterly. "He's married now. He won't just come running to me."

"I know," she nodded. "But you could at least get an apology out of him. We both know if you just tell him what's going on, he's not going to care in the least bit. You need to find a way to make it known that he hurt you and he messed you up by coming back."

She sighed and wiped her eyes. "I hate him you know that?"

"I know," she nodded. "Now get dressed."

"Why?" she asked wearily. "Are we gonna go egg his house?"

Amy laughed. "No, you're coming over to my place."

"Oh God Amy! I'm not doing that! I'm not gonna sit there during your nice little family's Christmas and pretend that I belong there," she turned her head.

"Ok," Amy said as she got up. "But how long have we been friends Adrian?"

She shrugged. "I don't know."

"Fine. Sixteen years, that's how long. As soon as I had my daughter you started showing up at my place. At first I thought it was weird but then I got used to it. Sixteen years Adrian. Don't tell me that you're not a part of my family, you know that you are," she said as she left.

* * *

"Mom!" Janie pounced on her as soon as she walked in the door.

"Hi!" she exclaimed back, caught off guard. "What's up?"

"You will never guess what happened at Ricky's today."

Amy nodded as she took off her coat and put down her purse. "Should I have a drink first?" she joked.

"You might," Greg replied.

She cast them a look. "Ok, I'm listening."

"Grace's pregnant," she blurted out.

Amy laughed. "No she's not. She can't have kids."

"Apparently that's what can happen if you believe in Jesus," Greg chimed in and Amy stared at them.

"You're serious."

"Yep," Janie responded.

"You know, I think I do need that drink," she got up and went to the kitchen as the doorbell rang.

"Hi," she stated as she opened it.

Adrian shrugged her shoulders self-consciously in the cold. "I'm sorry," she said.

Amy looked at her and nodded. "I know," she said as she ushered her inside.

* * *

a/n: so I know that it's obviously not Christmas and I missed that one by a landslide but oh well. The show must go on right? Lol. And I just want to say that even though Greg's character is quite vocal about his problem with "Jesus huggy" people, I don't want to offend anyone by that. I'm not sure if I will, but if I do, I want to apologize in advance. I personally am quite the opposite of that, I just think it's fun to take the opposite side sometimes in the imaginary world. And thanks so much for the reviews!! I'm sorry that I kept y'all waiting :(


	12. The day after never

Chapter Eleven- The day after never

Ben stared at his daughter, slack jawed. "What?" he finally gathered the strength to ask.

She looked at the ground and pulled on an invisible thread. "I said, I think I should…go stay with him for a while."

"Why?"

She shrugged. "He is my father you know?" she asked and Ben reared back like he was slapped. "It's just so hard to get to know him so I figure if I stay with him for a little bit, it will be easier you know?"

Ben swallowed hard and looked away as Amy sighed.

"Janie, there are different ways you can get to know Ricky," she said gently. "You don't need to…move in with him in order to do it."

"I know," she nodded. "It just seems right though."

"Seems right?" Ben whispered from his little corner. "How does that seem right? It would have been right if he had a role in your life from the beginning Janie, that would have been right. You don't owe that man anything!"

She could hear the hurt in Ben's voice and her eyes watered. She hated hurting her family, especially her dad but she had to do what she thought was right. She wanted to get to know Ricky, her biological father and this was how she wanted to do it. Instead of the awkward phone conversations and pick ups and drop offs, this would be all access, unrestricted time with each other. This was the only way.

"Dad-"

"Forget it," he said as he got up and left the room.

"Mom?" she asked as the tears caught in her throat.

Amy smiled at her, tears going down her own face. "Are you sure?"

Her daughter nodded and she sighed. "Well then we're going to make this happen ok?"

"What about Dad?"  
"He's hurt Jane. We're both hurt, I'm not going to lie to you, but we respect whatever decision you choose. You're old enough to figure out what's right and wrong and I'm not going to be responsible for keeping you from Ricky. Not if that's what you want."

"Thanks Mom," she said as she hugged the woman.

Of course Jane hadn't actually talked to Ricky, or Grace for that matter, about this yet. She figured she would just spring it on them and they would be happy. Grace was always telling her that she wanted her around more, and now she will be. They would see this her way, she knew it.

* * *

"Lose your dolly Boykewich?"

Ben didn't even turn his head to look at him. "What do you want Ricky?" he asked tiredly and Ricky stopped short when he got no retort back from him.

"What's wrong with you?"

"Like you don't know?" Ben snorted. "You and Grace were probably so happy you couldn't even sleep last night."

Ricky cut his eyes at Ben. "If you're talking about the baby then I would appreciate it-"

"I'm talking Jane Ricky. You know, your kid."

Confusion crossed his face as Ben just rolled his eyes. "What are you talking about?"

"How she's moving in with you. Don't tell me that you didn't put her up to that one because I know that you did."

"Moving in?!" he cried out. "What the fuck are you talking about?"

"Cut the shit Ricky ok? I barely slept last night as it was, I'm not awake enough to deal with you bullshit," he sighed as he got up.

"Ben," Ricky put a hand on his arm. "I have no idea what you're talking about," he said slowly.

At that moment in time, Janie walked into her dad's office and stopped slowly as the two men's heads swiveled towards her.

"Ummm, hi," she said awkwardly.

"Janie, what's going on?" Ricky was the first to speak.

"What do you mean?"

"Why is Ben telling me that you're moving in with me?" he asked, dangerously calm.

A nervous laugh escaped her mouth and she clamped a hand over it.

"I just thought that it would be the best thing right now," she said after a few tense, silent minutes. "I mean you're always talking about how awkward it is, and I agree, so I figure that this way it's like an all access pass to each other you know?" she fiddled with her bag, avoiding both pairs of eyes.

Realization dawned on Ricky's face and he turned to face Ben. "You're an asshole you know that? You thought I would do something like this without talking to you first? What the fuck is wrong with you?!" he yelled and Ben stood up to meet him.

"How the hell am I supposed to know what you two talk about?!" he came back defensively.

Janie moved slowly towards the door and Ricky turned around and pointed at her. "You. Sit."

"Don't talk to my daughter like she's a dog!" Ben snapped as he also looked at Janie. "Sit down!" he yelled.

Her legs gave out on command and she plunked into the closest chair and stared at both men.

"What were you thinking?" Ricky started. "You can't just decide this and not talk to me about it first! Me and Grace for that matter."

"I thought you'd agree to it," she said in a small voice. "That you'd be happy or something," she shrugged.

"What that you chose me?" he asked and Ben's head jerked up.

"What does that mean?"

"What?"

"She 'chose' you?"

Ricky sighed and looked away from him. "We need to talk about this, you, me and Grace. We're having a baby Janie, we're gonna be tight on space."

"But until the baby comes-"

"You wanna sleep in the crib that's going to be in there?" he rose an eyebrow.

"I'd settle for an air mattress," she tried to joke but both of her fathers just bored holes into her head. "Joke?"

Ben, who had been silent the entire time, other than questioning Ricky, looked at the girl he had raised and shook his head. "If you want to go live Ricky, then go," he said quietly.

Ricky, who was anticipating a battle over this, looked at him with huge eyes.

"What?"

"You heard me. She's made her choice and she obviously wants you."

"Dad," she started, tearing up.

"I'll write you a pass," he said in her direction and handed it off to her without looking at her.

"Dad," she tried again but Ricky shook his head and waved her out.

She stood there for a minute before walking slowly out of her dad's office and into another one.

* * *

"It is only nine o'clock chica," Adrian quipped as she saw her outside the door. "What gives?"

"I think I really fucked things up," she whispered and Adrian automatically took her into her office.

"Sweetheart, what happened? Did something happen with you and Greg?"  
She shook her head. "No. With me and…Dad," she said slowly.

"Ben?" she asked confused and she nodded.

"He hates me Adrian."

Adrian stared at the girl that was falling apart in front of her. "What are you talking about? He's your father, Ben loves you!" she exclaimed but it only made Janie cry harder.

"He won't even look at me," sniffed. "All because I thought that moving with Ricky was a good idea."

"WHAT?!"

She sighed, growing tired of having to explain this to people. "We can get to know each other better if we're always around each other," she said bluntly and Adrian sighed.

"You told your parents this? And Ricky agreed to it? Isn't Grace…pregnant?" she swallowed thickly for a minute.

"I didn't ask Ricky; I thought that he would just be happy you know? But then he started saying that I chose them. What does that mean Adrian? How could I choose him?? And then Dad got all quiet and agreed with him and now he won't look at me!!"

"Ricky said you chose him?"

"I don't get it," Janie wiped her eyes.

"It means that instead of living with your mother and Ben, your adoptive father, you are choosing to live with Ricky, your real father," she said through clenched teeth. "That you think that he's better so you're going to live with him."

"WHAT?!?!?" Janie shrieked and Adrian just nodded. "I never said that I thought he was better!! I love my dad!"

"I know you do Janie, I know. But that's what that meant. Your father and Ricky were always fighting about you, you know that? For a time, Ricky tried to be in your life but he couldn't provide so Amy told him to leave and Ben stepped in. That was a battle royale," she rolled her eyes. "Ben said you were going to be his baby and Ricky chose to disagree."

"Dad won I take it?"

"Who do you live with?" Adrian answered with a raised eyebrow.

"For Ricky to say that you choose him, it's like the nail in the coffin for your dad. The fight's over and it was a good run but Ricky swooped in at the last moment and got a slam dunk."

Janie stood up quickly. "I need to go talk to him!"

"I wouldn't," Adrian said slowly. "Give him some time to cool down and gain his head back. He's hurting Janie. Fathers don't want to let their daughters see them hurt. And a tip for the future, men don't let women see them hurt in general," she smiled.

"So…?"

"Go to class and just go about your day. It's going to be hard, I know…but you have to do it."

Janie took a few minutes to gather herself, gladly ate the chocolate bar that Adrian had 'in case of emergencies' and exited her office.

"I am going to KILL him," Adrian muttered as she stomped out of the room.

* * *

"Talk about desperate," the girl laughed as Janie walked through the halls slowly. "I mean any girl that needs to like, throw herself in front of a car for attention is seriously pathetic."

Janie slowed down as she passed the giggling girls.

"Seriously!" her friend agreed. "I mean as if having two hot men argue about you isn't enough," the tossed her hair over her shoulder.

"It's not like she's even that interesting you know? She's so quiet and she like barely talks. It's probably because she has nothing interesting to say," the first girl applied her lip gloss and shut her locker door, coming face to face with the person she was talking about.

"Whatever," she muttered as she turned around and flounced down the hallway.

"You have a problem?" Janie called after her and she turned around.

"Excuse me?"

"I said, do you have a problem?" she repeated as she hopped over to her with her crutches.

The girl sized her up for a second. "I don't hit pathetic crippled people," she said as she turned around.

Janie chose that instant to swing her crutch out and catch the girl in the back of the leg, sending her stumbling.

"Are you fucking kidding me?!" she faced Janie again. "You seriously just hit me?

"Oh my God! Tin Man, she does have a brain!" she mocked her as she tilted her head.

"Bitch," the girl hissed as she threw down her bag and advanced toward Janie but halfway there, another body stepped in the way.

"Young, I suggest you move. This has nothing to do with you."

Nadine just shook her head. "It has everything to do with me," she said quietly.

Girl number one just rolled her eyes and huffed down the hallway where her friends were waiting for her as Nadine turned to Janie. She opened her mouth to talk but Janie just walked right by her.

"You're welcome!" she called out.

Janie just snorted as she kept on going.

"Who does she think she is?! She can't just sit there and call me an attention grabbing whore and then step back into my life when it's suddenly convenient for her!" Janie seethed later that day at lunch.

"Isn't it good that she was at least…well protecting you though?" Julie asked her as she shot her a dark look.

"I don't need to be protected Jules."

Her friend put up her hands in protest. "I'm just saying that it could have been worse, she could have been sitting there calling you pathetic you too ok?"

Janie sighed, knowing that Julie was right. It seemed that wherever she went that day so far, people were talking about her. Talking about how she got hit by a car and was now in a cast and crutches or talking about Ricky's reveal that he was her father. As far as the student population knew, Benjamin Boykewich, the music teacher, was her dad and now all the sudden here's this new counselor guy that's saying he's her father. And everyone had something to say about it. All she really wanted to do right now, was go home and curl up in bed and pretend that this never happened. Oh but going home meant that she'd have to face her father who, despite what Adrian said, does not like her right now.

"Can you take me somewhere?" she suddenly turned to face Greg who stopped midchew to look at her.

"Now?" he asked with lettuce hanging out of his mouth.

"Well you can swallow first," she rolled her eyes. "I just, need to get out of here. There's just too much crap going on and I can't take it today."

"It's still gonna be here tomorrow Jane," he replied. "Running away doesn't make bad shit disappear you know."

"Whose side are you on here?" she snapped as she got up.

"There are sides?" he looked at her confused.

She glared at him. "Fine, I'll just go by myself then."

"Will you wait a minute Janie?" he asked as he ran after her.

"No, forget it Greg. Go back to lunch and then spend time with your friends, I'll be fine," she smiled at him.

He crossed his arms. "I don't get it. School starts back up and all the sudden you're a huge bitch to everyone. What gives?"

"Nothing!" she yelled at him. "Excuse me for having a shitty day and wanting my boyfriend to stick by me!! But whatever, go have fun," she sneered.

"Fine!" he yelled back her. "Call me when you take a fucking Midol," he snapped as he stalked back inside the lunch room and she pushed the doors open to let herself out of the school.

* * *

"What's wrong?"

Janie shook her head as she looked at the ground. "Nothing. I was just having a bad day at school and I didn't know where else to go."

The woman sighed in relief and ushered her into the house as Janie hopped over the threshold.

"I hope it's ok that I'm here," she said awkwardly.

Grace waved her aside with her hand. "I'm actually glad you are. We don't really know each other do we? And I'm glad that you feel you can come here when you need to," she smiled at her.

"You haven't talked to Ricky have you?" Janie shut her eyes. There was no way that Grace would be that happy to see her if she had talked to her husband lately.

"No, why?" she cocked her head to the side.

Janie smiled a tight smile. "Well that's part of the bad day. See I kind of got this idea in my head and I didn't exactly talk to you guys about it first. I thought that since it was so hard for me and Ricky to get to know each other that I could just…well move in," she said slowly.

"Move in?" Grace repeated slowly and the girl nodded.

"I mean I know that things will be hectic because you're pregnant and all that but I thought that I could just stay until then you know? I'll be out of your hair by the time the baby comes. And I can stay in the room you were making for him, just buy me an air mattress, I don't care," she said quickly.

"Janie," Grace said slowly. "You can't just move in here. There's a lot that needs to be talked about first."

Janie hung her head. "Yeah I know. Dad's not talking to me because of this; he won't even look at me. I guess him and Ricky were talking about it this morning and Ricky said that I chose him over Dad and then well, I was exiled."

"Ricky said that you chose him?" Grace asked. "He should know better than that. And I'm sure he didn't mean it like that Jane," she said patting her back. "And what do you mean you were exiled?"

"Well I can't go home because if I do that, I'll have to see Dad, who hates me. And I couldn't stay at school, everyone was talking about me one way or the other, be it the accident or the fact that Ricky announced to a crowd that he was my father."

Grace's eyes grew wide. "He said that in front of everyone?"

Jane nodded. "He's the one that took me to the hospital when I got hit."

Grace sighed. "Yeah, I can see how this is turning out to be a bad day," she said sympathetically. "Well," she looked around and shrugged. "You're already here. Why don't we go out today? Just us? We can get lunch and get hair cuts and go see a movie and do girly stuff," she smiled at her.

"What do you think about me moving in?" she asked point blank and Grace blinked.

"I think it's a good idea that you have, but me and Ricky need to talk about it first," she said slowly. "You're right there isn't a lot of space but I do think that you guys need to open up to each other and it might be the easiest way. We'll figure something out ok? Now let's go," she said as she stood up and held out her hands to help her step-daughter up.

"You're just trying to make me feel better aren't you?" Janie asked as she smiled at Grace hesitantly.

"Is it working?" she raised an eyebrow.

Janie smiled. "Well that just depends on if we can go see the new Jake Gyllenhaal movie or not," she joked.

"Oh we so can," Grace laughed as she shut the door behind them.


End file.
